The question about the next chapter in Princess Leonor’s education now has an answer. The Royal Household has just announced that the eldest daughter of King Felipe and Queen Letizia will study a degree in Political Science at the Getafe campus of Carlos III University. The heir to the throne thus bets on starting this September her university studies in our country, after completing high school in Wales, and at a public institution.
Predictions for Princess Leonor’s academic formation pointed to a curriculum focused on Law and aimed at her future functions as queen, but she will finally pursue a degree more similar to that of her sister Sofia. The Infanta is about to complete in Lisbon the first year of Political Science and International Relations at Forward College. A three-year degree that will subsequently take her to Paris and Berlin.
Three months before the end of her military training, Leonor de Borbón clears her future, following in the footsteps of her father, who also studied at a public Spanish university. Felipe VI was the first heir to the throne with a university degree. After studying COU at the Lakefield College boarding school in Ontario, he joined the national education system and earned a law degree at the Autonomous University of Madrid. Subsequently, he completed his training with a master’s in International Relations at Georgetown. Queen Letizia, for her part, studied Journalism at the Complutense.
Princess Leonor will start the first year of her degree just before turning 21, after her time in the Army, the Navy and the Air and Space Force. Over these last three years, the eldest daughter of the Kings of Spain has also assumed an increasingly significant institutional role as heiress to the Crown. All this amid the popular fervor for the young royal that has been nicknamed ‘Leonormanía’. A phenomenon that graces front pages and grows, inside and outside our borders.
This is Princess Leonor’s degree program and the university
Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) is a modern public university based in the Madrid municipality of Getafe and founded in 1989. It can boast of being twelfth in Europe in the QS ranking of the world’s 50 best universities under 50 years old. UC3M also stands out for the high employability of its graduates, which reaches 94.8%.
Regarding the degree chosen by Leonor of Bourbon, which lasts four years, the degree in Political Science aims to train specialists and professionals prepared to understand and analyze politics in all its complexity, with rigor and depth. From the Carlos III website it indicates that, through a solid base of essential knowledge, skills and abilities in the field of Political Science and Administration, it promotes students’ critical knowledge and interest in political analysis in national and international contexts.
The Getafe Campus of Carlos III University.
The degree is completely offered in Spanish, but if the student wishes, some subjects can be taken in English. For the 2025/2026 academic year, the entrance grade is 9.542. The course offers a balance between mandatory subjects relating to Political Science and a range of methodological, legal, economic, and sociological topics that complement them. The degree is focused on access to public administration and political analysis, and the faculty comprises scientists of international prestige.
As for the campus where Princess Leonor will study, it is located in the Madrid town of Getafe, south of Madrid, about 20 minutes by car from the city center and a similar distance from the Zarzuela Palace. It is equipped with modern facilities, among which stand out its two libraries, computer classrooms in several buildings, spaces for distance learning, audiovisual studios, studios, a courtroom, Wi‑Fi zone throughout the campus, and a sports center with an indoor pool and a spa.
Leonor of Bourbon and the end of her military training
The military training of Princess Leonor has gone in parallel with that of her father and grandfather, King Juan Carlos I. The first year took place at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza; the second at the Naval School in Marín and included an instruction cruise aboard the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano; and the third, at the San Javier Academy, where she is currently. Unlike other princesses of her generation, such as Amalia of the Netherlands or Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, the heir to the Spanish throne is the only one who has worked in a full military training.
Before facing her next academic stage, meticulously planned as a matter of state, Leonor de Borbón must successfully complete her last weeks in San Javier. Her time in the Air Force has been marked by milestones such as her first solo flight at the controls of a Pilatus PC-21 and will reach its end in mid-July, when King Felipe VI hands his daughter the rank of ensign.
