Princess Leonor of Spain (Eleonora of Asturias) turns 18 tomorrow and now officially enters the limelight as heir to the throne, while a “Leonormania” has gripped the youth in Spain who are concerned about the public image of their future queen. country. .

Leonor’s birthday tomorrow will be marked with an official ceremony at the Spanish Parliament, during which the young princess will swear allegiance to the Constitution before receiving the Congressional and Senate medals.

To highlight the importance of her birthday tomorrow there will be a reception at the royal palaces in Madrid followed by a gathering of the royal family at El Pardo Palace just outside the capital.

Also, Spanish television will show a documentary about her life.

Ahead of the celebrations, the Spanish royal family released a series of photographs of the princess, many of which have never been seen before.

Check out this Instagram post.

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These include one of her first day at school accompanied by her mother, Queen Letitia, and her father, King Felipe, who was then a prince himself.

In another, from 2010, Leonor is shown holding the World Cup trophy that the Spanish men’s soccer team had just won. In others she appears with her younger sister Sophia.

Princess of Asturias

In May, Leonor graduated from UWC Atlantic, a boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, where she did IB.

The Spanish media then closely followed the completion of her basic training at a military academy in Taragotha, where she has begun a three-year course to become an officer. Leonor, like her fellow students, participated in exercises dressed in military uniform and beret and received a sword.

She assumed her royal duties for the first time by presiding over the presentation of her own awards – “Princess of Asturias” – on 20 October.

Honoring celebrities from various fields – including Hollywood actress Meryl Streep and Japanese author Haruki Murakami – Leonor assured those present that she “fully understands and is conscious of my obligations and what they entail”.

“Leonormania” in Spain

The release of the photos and a series of recent appearances by the princess ahead of her birthday confirm – after years of protecting her public image – she is now becoming a public figure.

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“Leonor will need her own narrative,” notes royal biographer Carmen Remírez de Ganutha, adding that she “will have to connect with her own digital generation.”

In addition to her constitutional position, Leonor also has a path to mark in the universe of Spanish celebrities.

There is already talk of a “Leonormania”, which has taken hold of the youth in Spain who are interested in their public image.

Earlier in the year, they were released rumored to have been in a relationship with Barcelona and Spain international player Pablo Martin Paez Gaviraknown as Gavi.

Ultimately it turned out to be fake news, but it did show that a portion of the public was interested in seeing the princess as part of pop culture.

Paris Match magazine commented on them Bulgari earrings worn by Leonor at her awards ceremony.

Journalist Jesus Reyes even wrote a book about Leonor through the lens of her stylistic preferences, which he claims she inherited from her mother.

“From her father, King Felipe, she has inherited her commitment to the Crown, her overly polite manners and her constant smile and cheerful disposition,” Reyes writes.