The new stage in the life of the Princess of Asturias begins. Leonor enters the Zaragoza Military Academy this Thursday to begin military training that will lead her to become the head of all the Armies, like her father and her grandfather. The heiress will share the next three years of her life with 612 other cadets (140 of them women) and she will not enjoy privileges over them with two exceptions: she will study two years in one and will have an exclusive rest room. Her mother, very concerned about the nutrition of her daughters, wanted to impose a new daily menu in the army kitchens, but the academy refused. From Monday to Friday, Leonor will eat like the others: potato omelette and Torreznos de Soria.
These are two of the star dishes on the canteen menu, which cadets can resort to if they don’t like the dining room menu. Of course, paying. The prices are popular: from 1.60 euros for a slice of ham to 2.50 for a tortilla skewer. Leonor will also be able to choose between mixed dishes (6 euros), hamburgers (5) or the famous torreznos from Soria (2.60). The healthiest thing on the menu is the Illustrated Salad, with lettuce, tomato, onion, tuna and hard-boiled egg (4.50 euros). In addition, she can wash it all down with beers of all kinds, the only alcoholic beverage that is allowed.
We already anticipated this Wednesday that the Academy’s menu is not to the liking of Doña Letizia, whose advisers would have asked the board of directors for a change in favor of healthier foods and less fried foods. The response has been a refusal that has not sat well with the queen. She, who has always taken care of her family’s diet to detail, managed to introduce positive changes in her daughters’ school and also in the boarding school in Wales where Leonor graduated last June and where her sister Sofía will enter The end of this month. But the Army is another story.
Military discipline for Leonor
The heiress will be treated as one more cadet: she will get up at 6:30 am and undergo a review in the room she shares with the rest of her companions. She will wear official clothing: she will attend class dressed in a gray suit, which consists of pants, jacket and tie, and will receive four long-sleeved shirts for the winter months and another four short-sleeved shirts for the summer period, in addition to two skirts . Her pajamas and tracksuit will also be uniformed, as well as her underwear. In addition, Leonor will respect the image rules: hair in a braid, ponytail or low bow, natural make-up and no artifice (headbands, rings, manicures or visible tattoos).
The classes will be taught from Monday to Friday and the cadets will enjoy permits on the weekends that they do not have maneuvers. They will also be able to enjoy breaks in the academy canteen, receive tutoring, go to the library or to the chapel. And here is the first privilege of the daughter of kings: she will enjoy an exclusive rest room that she will not have to share with the rest of her companions.
The second privilege of the princess is a personalized study plan, since Leonor will take two courses in one: the first will be condensed from her admission (on August 17) to October 7, when Bandera will be sworn in. Then the second will begin.