PRINCESS Leonor and her sister, the Infanta Sofía spoke to the health services at the weekend and thanked them for everything they are doing for society – a speech in which Sofía gave a few words of her own in public for the first time ever, albeit on screen and from home.
To mark International Book Day – which is Saint George's Day in England and Sant Jordi's Day in Catalunya, as well as the death dates of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare – the Infanta Sofía was seen reading from Don Quijote as part of the Fine Arts Circle's online challenge.
They spoke of the 'enormous difficulties' Spain is going through and recalled the 'suffering' of those who had lost relatives or friends during the pandemic, whilst thanking 'those who are helping and caring for everyone else in so many ways'.
“You're all important,” said Princess Leonor, 14, on the video recorded in her home, Madrid's Zarzuela Palace, and the Infanta Sofía said, “let's hope all this is over soon.”
The video message was transmitted at 20.00, a time when hundreds of thousands – possibly even millions – of residents across the country go to their windows or out onto their balconies every evening to applaud the health service and other key workers, including delivery drivers, care workers, police, cleaners, refuse collectors and supermarket staff.
The Infanta, who will turn 13 the day after tomorrow (Wednesday, April 29 – happy birthday from all of us, Sofía), said: “You don't have to be a grown-up to realise the enormous difficulties Spain and other countries are going through due to the seriousness of the pandemic.
“Many children have lost grandparents, and other older relatives, and are having a terrible time.”
She gave her thanks to 'all those people who are helping and caring for others in so many ways', and echoed her elder sister: “¨You're all important. Thank you. We're sending you hugs and lots of love.”
The young princesses have been in lockdown longer than the rest of the country – their school shut on March 11, after a pupil was reported to have been diagnosed with Covid-19.
They say they are getting through it 'like millions of other children who have been at home and unable to go to school for more than a month'.
“We're just trying to get on with life the best way possible,” says Princess Leonor, who is directly in line to the throne and will become the first Queen of Spain in centuries upon the death or abdication of her father, Felipe VI.
The girls gave their speeches – which they had prepared themselves in advance – from memory, without reading notes or scripts, and looking straight at the camera, speaking between them for 40 seconds.
They had been receiving homework by email twice weekly until the end of the Easter holidays, but are now following a more intensive programme of study with online lessons from their school and heaps of homework.
Sofía, described as the more tomboyish and extravert of the two sisters, will not get to have a birthday party this year, as she cannot see any of her friends, and is missing her after-school activities such as amateur dramatics and football, which she plays regularly.
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