Children of the late Duchess of Badajoz :. The Dowager Duchess of Calabria. Leonor was born during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King Juan Carlos I. On 17 August , Leonor joined the General Military Academy to start her 3-year military education. In , following her father's ascension to the throne after the abdication of her grandfather , Leonor was granted all the traditional titles of the heir to the Spanish crown, these are Princess of Asturias , Princess of Girona , Princess of Viana , Duchess of Montblanc , Countess of Cervera , and Lady of Balaguer.
Leonor was formally proclaimed heir before the Cortes on 31 October , her 18th birthday. Should Leonor ascend to the throne as expected, she will be Spain's first queen regnant since her fourth great-grandmother Isabella II , [ c ] who reigned from to Leonor was born on 31 October at , three weeks before her due date, to Felipe and Letizia, then the Prince and Princess of Asturias, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King Juan Carlos I , in the Ruber International Hospital in Madrid using a caesarean section necessitated by non-progression of labour.
Shortly after her birth, Leonor's umbilical cord stem cells were sent to a blood bank in Tucson, Arizona. This decision sparked public debate in Spain, as the blood bank was private and located abroad. Leonor left the Ruber International Hospital with her parents on 7 November During her early months, Leonor developed a small angioma , a benign tumor of blood vessels, on her nose.
The angioma, which was visible during her baptism, was initially mistaken for a scratch. According to medical sources, such angiomas are common in newborns and typically disappear within a year or year and a half without the need for surgery. Despite media speculation about potential surgery, sources close to the Royal Family confirmed that no such procedure was ever considered, and the angioma disappeared within months.
On 17 August , she started her first year of training at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza. According to the Spanish constitution of , the succession to the Spanish throne is under a system of male-preference cognatic primogeniture , [ 48 ] meaning that Leonor, as the elder of Felipe's two daughters, is first in line to inherit the throne.
