With the summer holidays nearly over and students returning to school, two European princesses are settling in at their Welsh sixth-form school for their final years of study.
Princess Leonor of Spain, a future queen, and Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, middle daughter of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, will both begin their studies at UWC Atlantic College, in the Vale of Glamorgan, in the coming weeks.
According to the College’s website, pre-induction programmes for the students commenced on Monday and continue through the week, with first-year students due to start their term on Monday, 30 August.
Both Princess Leonor and Princess Alexia will graduate from the College in its class of 2023. Princess Leonor’s attendance was announced in mid-February by the Spanish Royal House, which noted that she’d passed all requirements for attending and that the cost of her tuition would be privately paid by her parents.
Princess Leonor had previously attended the Centro Privado de Enseñanza Santa María de los Rosales in Madrid. Her younger sister, Infanta Sofía, still attends school there.
The Dutch Royal House announced a few weeks later, in early March, that Princess Alexia would follow in her father’s footsteps and attend UWC Atlantic College. She completed her final year of study at the Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet in The Hague.
The two princesses are the latest two royals to attend UWC Atlantic College. The Duchess of Brabant, the heir to the Belgian throne, graduated with her I.B. in 2020. Princess Raiyah bint Hussein, the daughter of King Hussein and Queen Noor, also attended the college.
UWC Atlantic College was founded in 1962 and provides students, according to its website, with “a lifelong commitment to service in the community, to collaborative work and social engagement and develops in young people a sense of personal initiative and leadership.”
Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Noor of Jordan are two of its presidents. The Prince of Wales previously held the position, as did Nelson Mandela, until his death in 2013.
