Infanta Leonor of Spain
Encyclopedia
The Infanta Leonor of Spain (Leonor de Todos los Santos de Borbón Ortiz, in English: Eleanor
Eleanor
Eleanor is a female given name....
of All the Saints of Bourbon Ortiz; born 31 October 2005 in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain) is the first child of Felipe, Prince of Asturias
Felipe, Prince of Asturias
Felipe, Prince of Asturias de Borbón y de Grecia; born 30 January 1968), is the third child and only son of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain....
, and his wife Letizia
Letizia, Princess of Asturias
Letizia, Princess of Asturias , is the wife of Felipe, Prince of Asturias, the heir apparent to the Spanish throne...
. Her father has no sons and she is thus second in the line of succession to the Spanish throne
Line of succession to the Spanish Throne
Spain uses the system of primogeniture. Male children succeed before female, and otherwise in order of age. If descent from male children does not exist , a female and her heirs succeed. Dynasts who marry against the express prohibition of the king or the Cortes are excluded from the succession...
after her father. As the daughter of the heir-apparent to the throne, she is styled and titled Her Royal Highness, Infanta of Spain. She has a younger sister, the Infanta Sofía
Infanta Sofía of Spain
The Infanta Sofía of Spain is the second child of Felipe, Prince of Asturias and his wife Princess Letizia. As the daughter of the heir-apparent to the throne, she is styled and titled Her Royal Highness, Infanta of Spain...
.
Birth
Infanta Leonor was born at 1:46 am in the Ruber International Clinic in MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
by means of a caesarean section
Caesarean section
A Caesarean section, is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus...
necessitated by non-progression of labour
Childbirth
Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
. Infanta Leonor weighed 3.5 kg (7 lbs. 11 oz.) and was 47 cm (18.5 inches) long. Her birth was announced by the Royal Family to the press via SMS
Short message service
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
. Leonor left the Ruber Clinic with her parents on 7 November 2005.
Baptism
The Infanta was baptised in the Zarzuela PalacePalacio de la Zarzuela
Zarzuela Palace is the principal residence of King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sofia and their family. The palace is on the outskirts of Madrid, near the Royal Palace of El Pardo. The complex also houses the official residence of the Prince and Princess of Asturias in a nearby mansion...
by the Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Madrid, Antonio Rouco Varela, on 14 January 2006. Like her father in 1968, Leonor was baptised with water from the river Jordan, following the Spanish Royal Family tradition. She was also given the additional names of de Todos los Santos (of All the Saints), a Bourbon tradition. Her godparents were her paternal grandparents, Their Majesties King Juan Carlos
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
and Queen Sofia of Spain
Queen Sofía of Spain
Queen Sofía of Spain is the wife of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.-Early life and family:Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark was born in Psychiko, Athens, Greece on 2 November 1938, the eldest child of the King Paul of Greece and his wife, Queen Frederika , a former princess of Hanover...
.
The Spanish Royal House confirmed on 25 February 2006 that stem cells from Princess Leonor's umbilical cord have been frozen and stored at a blood bank in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
. A spokesman said this is "habitual practice" at the clinic where Leonor was born. The stem cells will be frozen for at least 15 years, along with cells from 18,000 other babies around the world. Leonor is not the first royal baby to have her stem cells frozen; Prince Christian of Denmark
Prince Christian of Denmark
Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John of Denmark, Count of Monpezat , is a member of the Danish Royal Family. He is the elder son of Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, the Australian born Crown Princess Mary. He is a grandson of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and her husband Prince Henrik...
has had his stem cells frozen as well.
Schooling
Infanta Leonor began her education at the daycare for the children of the Spanish Royal GuardSpanish Royal Guard
The Royal Guard is an independent unit of the Spanish Armed Forces dedicated to the military protection of H.M. the King of Spain and the members of the Spanish Royal Family. It currently has a strength of 1,900 troops. While the guard does participate in parades and other ceremonial events, it...
.
She began her first year of real schooling on 15 September 2008 at the Santa María de los Rosales School in Aravaca
Aravaca
Aravaca is a barrio of the city of Madrid, in the Moncloa district. It is from the city centre, on the other side of Casa de Campo park. The population of the barrio is 29,547 , divided between three areas: Aravaca , Valdemarín and El Plantío -History:During the Spanish Civil War, Aravaca was on...
, just outside Madrid. Her father is an alumnus of the school.