Infanta Sofia’s destiny is to follow in Princess Eleonor’s footsteps, figuratively and literally. Yesterday, the two sisters, together with the Kings, received at the Zarzuela palace a group of young people who have studied or will study in one of the centers that the United World Colleges (UWC, in English) has around the world, among which the Atlantic College of Wales.
In just over a month, the infanta Sofia will go to Wales to start the first year of international baccalaureate at the boarding school, a path that at the end of August 2021 her sister, Eli onor, undertook. Yesterday, while the Kings were talking with the members of the board of trustees of the UWC Spain Foundation and with some of the sponsors of the scholarships, partial or total, that the organization grants, the two sisters met with fellow graduates. Elionor, with those who, like her, have finished their studies this year, in Wales and in other centers of the same educational network, and Sofia, with the group that plans to start high school studies in August. Later, the two youth groups joined for the veterans to exchange impressions with the newbies, and later for the family photo, they were joined by the elders: the Kings, the foundation’s board of trustees and the sponsors of the scholarships When they went outside for the family photo, Sofia guided a blind young woman who, along with other students, will be her classmates at the boarding school.
To welcome the young students, Elionor wore a white dress printed in fuchsia, blue and green shades from Zara and green espadrilles from Clooui; while Sofia opted for a fuchsia mini dress by Sfera and printed ballerinas by Adeba, and Queen Letícia, for a white model, with a pencil silhouette, by Hugo Boss.
Infanta Sofia, like Princess Eleonor in her day, underwent, a few months ago, the selection process required by the Spanish committee of the UWC Spain, which consists of an initial phase of pre-selection, carried out anonymously, and a final phase, carried out electronically with different tests. The foundation, which is chaired by the diplomat and former head of the House of the King, Alberto Aza, takes care of raising the necessary funds to endow the scholarships and that, every year, more Spanish students can go to different centers of the UWC. In addition, with specialized teachers, it is the body responsible for selecting applicants according to the guidelines set by the international office.
Since 2010, at just over three years old, the infanta Sofia, who will be 17 in April, has been a student at the Santa María de los Rosales College, in Madrid, where she attended pre-school, primary and secondary school. as did the sister, Elionor, from 2008 to 2021.
Sofia, like her sister during the two years she has been in Wales, and like the rest of the students, will live in a boarding school. Sofia de Borbó’s stay at Atlantic College costs 74,000 pounds sterling (around 82,000 euros for the two courses, five thousand more than Elionor’s). As in the case of the heiress’s studies, those of the Infanta Sofia will be paid for by the Kings with the allocation they receive from the budget of the King’s House.
Atlantic College, where Elionor has studied and where Sofia will go, is located in the medieval castle of St. Donat, in the Welsh valley of Morgannwg, and has an educational model with which, according to the promoters, it is intended that each student be one more, without distinction by economic level, and in which people from different countries, ethnicities and beliefs live together. The center belongs to the UWC organization, a network whose educational principles are “promoting understanding through education”. According to the organization, the baccalaureate program is designed to accompany students in the evolution to “become leaders who understand that change is possible through dialogue, action and determination to improve things at scale local, national and global”.
