With the sea calm and the thermometers reaching 30 degrees, Marín received his most anticipated student at the Naval Military School. The crowd of people who were looking for the best place, near the Carlos I Gate, eager to see the entrance of the Princess of Asturias, was left behind. His Royal Highness was received by the heads of department of the School, the staff, at the entrance of the management building, at 7:00 p.m., with the honors corresponding to the Princess of Asturias. Solemn and with a shy smile, he greeted, dressed in his white uniform, a first-year aspirant, the almost hundred journalists who were able to see his arrival in the first person.
There she received instructions from the commanding director, Pedro Cardona, whom she met for 15 minutes, then visit the facilities of what will be your new home in the coming months with Erik Hellman Muñoz, commander of the III Brigade of First Year Aspirants, who would be his tutor during the course. He attended alone, without the presence of Queen Leticia or King Felipe VI, who were busy with their respective agendas.
Arrival of Princess Leonor at the school facilities
After donning his blue work pants, he toured the ranches and the harbor with Hellman, near the breakwater where the Navy frigates were anchored. Not before sign the guest book of the academy, in which the Princess of Asturias expressed her enthusiasm for this new stage.
“Today I join, with great enthusiasm, this Naval Military School to continue my military training. I am sure that here I will have the opportunity to learn a lot and share many important experiences with my classmates. With affection, Leonor, Princess of Asturias.
From this Friday, she will begin classes with the rest of her classmates, where she will become another student of the emblematic academy previously attended by King Felipe VI and Juan Carlos I.
Strict training
As is customary at the Naval Military School of Marín, the course will be divided into two parts. The first, in the facilities of the city of Pontevedra and, from January, on the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano. In it, the Princess of Asturias and her fellow cadets They will embark in the second half of the year. put into practice the teachings of the school and deepen their technical and maritime knowledge, in addition to “assimilating the principles, habits and virtues that constitute the soul of this great profession”, as the Spanish Navy states.
From January to July, Princess Leonor will sail the seas of half the world aboard this schooner brig, which During the cruise of the previous edition, he made ten stops: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Fortaleza (Brazil), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Manzanillo (Mexico), San Diego (United States), Amador (Panama), New Orleans (United States), Boston (United States), London (United Kingdom) and Marín (Pontevedra).
But before constant contact with the sea, students must face a “strict regime and boarding“, “non-stop” in the words of Pedro Cardona, commander and captain of the ship. A day that will begin at 6:45 a.m., before sunrise, during which the students will get up, get dressed, organize their things and have breakfast so that at 7:50 a.m. they will be reviewed by their superiors. That is when the classes will begin, five modules in the morning starting at 8:10 a.m. and three more in the afternoon, after the scheduled lunch time. To this is added an hour of gymnastics that each student will have to practice, at a minimum, daily.
In addition, during the weekend They will be able to get up at 8:45 and, although Saturday morning is school time, students will have time to go outside from 11:30. Depending on their seniority and the course they are enrolled in, first-year students can return to the School at 1:30 or 3:00. However, from the third year onwards, students have the option of sleeping outside. “It’s a way of facilitating the regime they have, which is a boarding school, to help unite the group people entering school,” Cardona said.
The subjects will be a conjunction which combines traditional and technical military trainingdepending on the technological developments that allow for a complete program, although it will also depend on the specialty chosen by the students. One of the subjects that are part of the Princess of Asturias’ learning is Maneuvering and Navigation. Taught by Lieutenant Loreto Fontanals, Princess Leonor will learn the vocabulary used by all those who dedicate their lives to the sea. “I always tell them that it is one of the most beautiful professions they could have chosen and that life at sea has its hardness,” Fontanals said in statements to Ep.
In addition, a detailed knowledge of each part of the ship and how weather conditions affect navigation will be some of the skills that students will acquire in the military facilities of Marín that have a swimming pool, a planetarium with virtual reality and a navigation simulator.We are sure that Leonor will reinforce the values and principles that the king asks us to instill in her.“We are looking forward to it and I am sure we will all enjoy its presence,” Cardona added.
Maritime tradition
In addition to sailing on the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano, the Princess will have the opportunity to stay connected to sailing and compete in Palma aboard the Regulus, whose captain is today Admiral Eugenio Díaz del Río Jáudenes. A sailboat that was inaugurated this month by the Spanish Navy and that will be used by the Naval Military School of Marín for teaching and “participation in sports competitions by members of the Navy”; as stated in the purchase contract.
An opportunity for the heir to the throne to continue the family tradition linked to the sea, which could lead another member of the royal family to participate in sailing competitions like King Felipe VI and Juan Carlos I. In fact, the grandfather of the Princess of Asturias will participate at the end of September in the regatta that bears his name, just 5 nautical miles from where Princess Leonor will train.
