This year, Princess Leonor is experiencing a very different Holy Week compared to any other year. No family vacations or quiet days at home.
Instead, the heir to the Spanish throne is crossing oceans aboard the Juan Sebastián de Elcano, the iconic training ship of the Spanish Navy, as part of her military education.
Princess Leonor’s Easter Far from Home
Since January, Leonor has been sailing with other midshipmen on this instructional cruise, and her next stop is El Callao, Peru, where she will arrive between April 18 and 22.
There, she will disembark with her peers to participate in a series of activities, both academic and recreational. In each country they visit, the students also have some free time to explore and learn more about the local culture.
However, this visit to Peru coincides with a somewhat somber moment for the country: the death of renowned writer Mario Vargas Llosa. The Nobel Prize in Literature passed away in Lima last Sunday night. The country is in mourning, and multiple tributes are expected in the coming days.
For now, there is no official information regarding whether the crew of the Elcano, or Leonor herself, will participate in any event in memory of the writer. We will have to wait for the official itinerary of her stay in Peru to know if there will be any institutional gesture in this regard.
Meanwhile, the Royal Household has expressed its condolences publicly. Through their social media platforms, King Felipe and Queen Letizia shared a heartfelt message in honor of Vargas Llosa:
“The Olympus of universal literature has opened its doors to Mario Vargas Llosa. Always grateful for his immense work to our eternal Hispanic-Peruvian. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends.”
The message was accompanied by an archive image of the writer with the King and Queen.
New Photos of Leonor
This week, some unpublished images of Leonor aboard the Elcano were released as a way of marking the halfway point of her journey. In the photos, she is seen engaged in training routines, surrounded by her peers and performing tasks that are part of the rigorous military training she is undergoing.
Meanwhile, her parents, the King and Queen, and her sister Sofia are enjoying some time off. Felipe and Letizia have no public engagements scheduled, and the Infanta will take advantage of her school holidays in Wales, where she is pursuing her International Baccalaureate, set to conclude in May.
Leonor, on the other hand, continues with her busy schedule. Once her time in Peru is completed, she will proceed to visit Panama, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and the United States, before returning to Spain in July.