Princess Sofia is currently enjoying a summer break in Mallorca with her sister Leonor and her parents King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, but in only a matter of weeks she will be following in her elder sister’s footsteps and attending UWC Atlantic in Wales while Princess Leonor is set to begin her three-year military training this month.
UWC is a college for students aged 16-19 years of age and students travel from over 150 countries to live, study and learn together pursuing the International Baccaluareate and an outdoor-orientated experiential education over two years.
UWC Atlantic is based at St Donat’s Castle, south Wales, in a 12th century castle set in 122 acres of woodland and farmland, with its own valley and seafront.
It is the only United World College in the UK.
Established in 1962, it is the founding college of the UWC Movement, which was launched in 1967.
The college also co-created the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme now widely respected across the world.
The UWC Movement encompasses 18 global schools and colleges dedicated to uniting cultures and countries through education.
Viewing education as an experimental, experiential journey, the UWC Movement has moved away from rigid frameworks and created a ‘no-limits’ approach that challenges traditional boundaries between the curricular and co-curricular and enables each and every student to discover their sense of self and purpose in our ever-changing world.
Spanish defence minister Margarita Robles confirmed Princess Leonor of Asturias’s next move earlier this year to Tatler.
The training will include stints in the armed forces, the Spanish navy and the air force.
Speaking in March, Robles confirmed: “In due course, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces will be a woman, and in recent years we have been making a very important effort to incorporate women into the armed forces.”
The Princess will begin her training at Army Military Academy in Zaragoza before going to naval school, and will complete her three years at the General Air Academy.
In September last year the Spanish palace announced that Princess Leonor will go to university to study law once her three years of military training have been completed.