Overview
- Leonor accompanied the King and Queen at Madrid’s Royal Palace wearing the gala uniform of an alférez from the Air and Space Academy, which she is attending in her final training year.
- Felipe VI told senior commanders that 2025 left a growing sense of threat reaching the heart of Europe and stressed the need for well-prepared, well-equipped forces and a rules‑based international order.
- Defense Minister Margarita Robles praised the heir’s military formation and used the occasion to underscore the expanding role and example of women in the armed forces.
- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did not attend, traveling to Paris for a meeting of the Coalition of Volunteers for Ukraine, in what media noted as his first absence from the ceremony as head of government.
- Casa Real noted Leonor completed her first solo flight in a Pilatus PC-21 on December 18 and is scheduled to complete her mandated three-year program in July 2026 under Royal Decree 173/2023; Murcia has announced it will award her its Gold Medal.