The Kings have been left alone in their residence in La Zarzuela. This Tuesday, as they did two years ago with Princess Leonor, they have said goodbye to the Infanta Sofía who has traveled from Madrid to London to, later, go to Llantwit Major (Wales, United Kingdom) where the Atlantic College is located to begin the period two years in which, as a boarding school, she will study the two courses of the International Baccalaureate following in the footsteps of her older sister and, also, her own path.
La Zarzuela has provided this Tuesday photographs of the family farewell that have been captured at the residence of the Kings, before the Infanta Sofía went to the airport to take the flight to the British capital. In the photographs you can also see Jan, the labrador retriever to whom the infanta also says goodbye.
Just two years ago, when Princess Leonor left for Wales, the images were captured at the entrance to the Barajas airport terminal where the Kings and Infanta Sofía said goodbye to the princess, all four of them wore masks due to post-pandemic restrictions.
With Princess Leonor following her military training at the Zaragoza Academy and Infanta Sofía in Wales, the Kings, like other parents, will have to get used to living alone again without direct contact with their daughters. Princess Leonor will not return to Madrid until October 12, without it being announced for the moment if she will participate in the parade or if she will be placed, together with the Kings, on the stage.
The first vacation period at the Atlantic College will be from October 27 to November 5, so it is not expected that the Infanta Sofía will be present at Princess Leonor’s oath of allegiance, scheduled for October 7, or neither in the acts of October 12. She, too, will not be able to attend the delivery of the Princess of Asturias awards that will be held in Oviedo, on October 20.
The last time the Infanta Sofía was seen in public was on August 20 when, accompanying her mother, Queen Letizia, she attended the World Cup final in which the women’s team was proclaimed world champion. Sofia, a great soccer fan and practitioner of this sport, especially enjoyed the triumph of the Spanish players. Sofía had to be in the box and in the delivery of the medals of the champions next to the president of the Royal Football Federation, Luis Rubiales.
The Reyes’ youngest daughter, 16, follows in the footsteps of her sister, Leonor, and after completing her school years at the Santa María de los Rosales school in Madrid, she prepares to study the two years of the International Baccalaureate at the UWC Atlantic College of Wales (United Kingdom). As they did with Princess Leonor’s studies, the King and Queen will pay the cost of Sofia’s studies from her assignment, which, in this case, amounts to 74,000 pounds (about 82,000 euros) for the two courses. It is expected that upon her arrival at the boarding school, the infanta, like the rest of her classmates, will go through a week of acclimatization until classes begin on September 5.
UWC Atlantic College, where there are students from some 80 countries, belongs to the United World Colleges organization, whose educational model seeks to promote cultural exchange and coexistence of people from different countries, races and beliefs. Like her sister, the infanta will stay in a room with three other girls of different nationalities and like any other student, she will have to take on tasks such as cleaning and washing her clothes. The academic program combines science and literature subjects, to which are joined others on subjects such as creativity and sports and volunteer work.
