Thirty years ago, the then Prince of Asturias became the first university graduate of the Spanish royal family. This Thursday, already Rey, he has returned to the Law School of the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his degree in the company of the rest of the students of his promotion.
The King, who met with his classmates for dinner last night, has toured the university facilities accompanied by the Minister of Universities, Joan Subirats, the rector of the UAM and the dean of the faculty. He has entered the same classroom in which he received the classes and has chatted with the current students; many have received him with signs of affection and have applauded his presence at the academic center,
Subsequently, everyone has moved to the Aula Magna Francisco Tomás y Valiente, where the institutional act has been carried out. Precisely, the King recalled that the assassination at the hands of ETA of Tomás y Valiente, a professor murdered by ETA “shocked us all” and explained that it was the professor with whom he faced his first oral exam”. He has had words for everyone his teachers, especially for Aurelio Menéndez, his tutor during the degree.
The King has addressed his fellow students, saying “we return after three decades. There is no doubt that the university stage is a turning point… it was also for me even if I had a future… let’s say more than foreseeable”, a phrase that made the audience smile.
Finally, he highlighted the importance of university studies “A society is inconceivable, not only educated, educated, educated, but also free, without a robust University”,
Coinciding with the announcement of the beginning of the military and university training stage of Princess Leonor, it must be remembered that her father, after passing through the academies of Zaragoza (Land), Marín (Navy) and San Javier (Air), between the years In 1985 and 1988, he started university when he was 20 years old to start some studies that he completed at the Faculty of Law with a special program that also included complementary subjects in Economic Sciences. Felipe de Borbón graduated in 1993 and that same year, after the summer holidays, he began a Master’s in International Relations at Georgetown University (Washington, USA) from which he obtained his diploma in May 1995. He was from then on when Felipe de Borbón dedicated himself fully to his representation work as Prince of Asturias in the acts assigned to him by his father, King Juan Carlos.
The King is the Honorary President of the UAM Alumni Association, to which he returned in 2003 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the creation of this group. In November 2018, Don Felipe visited the exhibition “Universidad Autónoma de Madrid: 50 years making the future” which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the University.
The UAM, whose main campus, Cantoblanco, was inaugurated in the early 1970s with just over a thousand students, a number that has been increasing to reach 30,000 university students this year.
