When Princess Leonor inherits the throne of her father, King Felipe, she will be crowned Spain’s first Queen Regnant in well over 150 years. It is a role for which the Princess of Asturias will spend her life preparing; indeed, the 19-year-old has just completed her intense period of navy training, which saw her spend the past seven months sailing the Atlantic Ocean. There are, however, some lessons that only a mother can teach. When it comes to the royal style, Princess Leonor is turning to the ultimate inspiration: Queen Letizia herself.
Case in point? Her royal debut during the royal reception for the most luminary names in Balearic society on Monday evening. The event is a mainstay in the social calendar for King Felipe and Queen Letizia, but this week’s reception marked the first time that Princess Leonor and her sister, Infanta Sofía, joined their parents to welcome locals at their summer holiday residence, the Palace of Marivent. (The Spanish royals have been coming here since the early 1970s, when Felipe’s father, the former King Juan Carlos I, was given the palace as a gift by the local government. In the 1990s, Diana, Princess of Wales, visited with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry, and the Obamas and the Clintons have also been guests.)
Leonor was joined by her sister, Infanta Sofía, and their grandmother, Queen Sofía, at the reception, which is hosted each year during the royal family’s holiday to Mallorca.
Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images
Queen Sofía, King Felipe’s mother, rounded out the three generations of royals as the evening went on. While the 86-year-old wife of King Juan Carlos I has reduced her number of official public engagements of late, she is said to be particularly fond of the Balearic Islands reception, which the family hosts each year during their summer stay in Mallorca. Good taste is obviously in the blood for the Spanish princesses and their grandmother: Leonor and Sofía both dressed in bold seasonal dresses, matching Queen Sofía’s outfit of choice for the occasion. Infanta Sofía wore a tie-dye pink satin midi-dress, while her namesake opted for an aquamarine and pink blouse and matching trousers.
Rounding out the trio was Princess Leonor, whose deep blue ruffled minidress by Desigual and Stella Jean bore a printed pattern of giraffes, peacocks and palm trees. If the piece looked familiar, that’s because the future queen borrowed it from her mother’s wardrobe. Queen Letizia wore the dress to the very same event back in 2023, where she paired it with a starry set of gold earrings by Isabel Guarch Vents. Princess Leonor also dipped into her mother’s archive for her shoes, wearing a pair of Calzados Picon espadrilles—aptly dubbed “Letizia” wedges—for her debut at the Marivent Palace party. Queen Letizia herself had previously stepped out in the wedges back in July 2020.
