The Princess of Astuias, Leonor, joined her parents King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain for the 2023 National Day Parade. This year’s National Day event has been extremely special for the Spanish Royal Court. Princess Leonor was attending the parade as the military rank so was dressed in her military uniform. National Day is one of the staple event of King Felipe and Queen Letizia’s calendars. Also known as Hispanic Day, or “Día de la Hispanidad” in Spanish, the National Day is observed annually on October 12th in Spain and many Latin American nations to celebrate country’s history, recognize and appreciate achievements.
As the heiress to the Spanish Monarch, instead of being a spectator like her mother, Leonor was a subordinate to her father, King Felipe, and took the salute during the parade. It’s been a long-awaited day to see the next Monarch in the training.
This year’s parade has been a sort of comeback for Princess Leonor as she missed 2021 and 2022 day events due to her study. Leonor was at the UWC Atlantic college in Wales for the last two parade and this year she has joined the Parade in a Royal style.
Princess Leonor decorated her Military Uniform with the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The Princess received the insignia on her 10th birthday but formally King Felipe presented the Order of the Golden Fleece to Leonor on his 50th birthday in 2018.
The Spanish Official State Gazette has published the Royal Decree through which #KingFelipe grants the Collar of the Spanish Order of Charles III to #PrincessLeonor, The Princess of Asturias marking her 18th birthday. The Order of Charles III is the highest civil honor. pic.twitter.com/fcl7X6KFHd
— RegalFille (@RegalFille) October 11, 2023
Later this month on Leonor’s 18th birthday, King Felipe will be presenting Princess Leonor with the highest honour of the Spanish Kingdom, Collar of the Spanish Order of Charles III.
After the Parade, Princess Leonor, The Princess of Asturias, joined her parents at the Royal Palace of Zarzuela to receive the military personnel and government delegations. This was another first for the Future Queen of Spain.
An interesting tidbit of the post-parade reception, King Felipe VI decided to change his army uniform for the reception to his regular tailored suit but Princess Leonor decided to keep her on – putting her current role of Military rank above than her traditional role of Spanish Princess.
📺 TV en DIRECTO | En el besamanos, la princesa Leonor recibe a algunos de sus compañeros en la academia militar de Zaragoza https://t.co/oCTWkEDhbw pic.twitter.com/NKAKevwLAt
— EL PAÍS (@el_pais) October 12, 2023
Among the military ranks who were received by the royals at the Palace were some of Leonor’s classmates from Zaragoza military academy where she is currently under training.
