Margarita Pardo de Santayana: lieutenant colonel, mother of five, helicopter expert hired by King Felipe as Leonora’s teacher at the Academy

Just as King Juan Carlos entrusted the supervision of his son Felipe, then Prince of Asturias, to Lt. Col. Juan Antonio Alcina, now Princess Leonor has her own tutor to look after her during her training. The responsibility fell on Margarita Pardo de Santayana.

She is a lieutenant colonel of the land army, participant in three missions in Mali, Afghanistan and Macedonia, who was initially also trained at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza, where today she has to accompany Leonor, recalls La Razón.

Who is Princess Leonor’s teacher?

In addition to her military training and the trust placed in her by King Felipe of Spain, Margarita Pardo de Santayana is a woman of strong religious convictions, a mother of five children, and an expert in flying helicopters.

In an interview that she offered to the YouTube space “El Faro” in November 2019, she admitted that she knew from a young age that she wanted to follow military training, just like his father Chief of Army Staff (JME) Alfonso Pardo de Santayana and his brothers.

His father didn’t take his decision well at first because of how hard military life was.

Since I was little, I loved it because what you know is what you love, so in my house I come from a family with a long military tradition on both my father’s and my mother’s side, she said.

She always had the support of her mother, and when she started wearing the uniform, she became Pardo’s pride, more than anything due to the fact that there were few women in the army when she was a cadet.

Apart from military service, the sea relaxes the teacher of Princess Leonor, although “I don’t always have such a peaceful time” and when she is at home she enjoys being able to help around the house.

On that occasion, he was asked what he would have done by profession if he had not been in the army, to which he answered without hesitation that such a scenario had “never” been thought of. “I didn’t think about another scenario and I’m privileged because I enjoy my job,” she pointed out.

Today, she is seen as a pioneer in the Armed Forces, as she was the first woman to command a battalion of the Air Mobile Forces of the Army.

Her last position was in the Military Room of Casa del Rey, in Zarzuela, which is why Felipe dedicated his eyes and trust in her to take care of Princess Leonor who would become the Supreme Commander of the Three Armies in the future. (AND)

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