Living with a disability is not easy, and being young isn’t either. Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía approached a group of young people with disabilities this Friday with whom they held a meeting to listen to them and share what their daily lives are like and the difficulties they have to face. The meeting is part of private activities of the daughters of the Kings who maintain contacts with different social groups to learn, firsthand and in a close setting, about their various issues.
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La Zarzuela has reported on the content of this meeting and has provided the images, as the event was not on the official agenda of the royal family nor covered by the media.
The meeting took place in the dining room of the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid where the young people explained to Leonor and Sofía the barriers and pending issues that must be addressed from all areas of society, as well as the challenges to be faced so that youth with disabilities can move through spaces of regularity, inclusion, and rights where they can share among equals and develop fully.
Angie Lei, Fernando Castro, Isabela Arias, and Álvaro Gonzalo, who are between 17 and 23 years old, represent what disability is: a diverse ecosystem that includes realities such as autism, cerebral palsy, skeletal dysplasias causing dwarfism, visual impairment, or acquired brain injury, which intersect with other social or life circumstances such as gender, migration status, or significant support needs. One of the young people, diagnosed with Asperger’s, explained to the two sisters how he manages his studies in International Relations, a subject Infanta Sofía is currently taking.
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Two of the young people who spoke with the Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofía have been beneficiaries in some edition of the “Queen Letizia for Inclusion” program developed by the Royal Board on Disability. This public body’s call grants direct aid of up to 10,000 euros per person to cover all the support that students with disabilities need to carry out their educational project as they had conceived it, with all guarantees of equity and accessibility.
Leonor and Sofía traveled to the Residencia de Estudiantes after participating at La Zarzuela, alongside the Kings, in an audience with the board of the Spanish Committee Foundation of the United World Colleges, whose network includes the school in Wales where both completed their baccalaureate.
Together with the board members, the Kings received sponsors in an audience, including the La Caixa Foundation, students who obtained a place in 2026 to study in this network of schools, and students who have just completed their two years of international baccalaureate studies, a meeting joined by Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía as former students of Atlantic College.
