Princess Leonor of Spain arrives in New York after five months at sea

From the sea to NYC!Princess Leonor of Spain arrived aboard a Spanish Navy training ship in New York City on Wednesday, dressed in a crisp white uniform adorned with black insignia.The 19-year-old royal — who is the heir to the Spanish throne, followed by her younger sister, Sofia — appeared in good spirits alongside fellow cadets as she saluted onlookers aboard the Juan Sebastián de Elcano.Leonor, who had kick-started her military training in 2023, will not be returning to Spain via the ship.Instead, she will fly back and rejoin her peers in Gijón on July 7, EDATV News reports.The princess will join the Spanish Navy’s guided missile frigate Blas de Lezo there, where she is set to undertake a key segment of her naval training.Over the past two years, Leonor has been undergoing training at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza.Later this year, she will begin Air Force training at the General Air Academy in Santiago de la Ribera to round out her military education.In March 2023, the Spanish royal house announced that Leonor was set to undergo three years of military training.“As in all parliamentary monarchies (the heir) has to have a military background and a military career,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles said at the time.Leonor completed her high school degree at UWC Atlantic College in Wales, UK that year.“In due course, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces will be a woman, and in recent years we have been making a very important effort to incorporate women into the armed forces,” Robles added.The government and the Royal House have agreed that her “very intense” military training will precede university studies, following in the footsteps of her father in the 1980s.The Spanish monarchy has been struggling to repair its image after a series of scandals over the past decade, mainly linked to the former king Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014 in favor of his son, King Felipe.Juan Carlos abdicated amid a tax fraud case involving mem...