Princess Leonor Meets Princess of Asturias Prize Winners in Pink Suit

Princess Leonor of Spain held a solo audience with this year's Princess of Asturias Award winners on 22 October, at the Covadonga Hall of the Hotel de la Reconquista in Oviedo, in northern Spain.

The Princess of Asturias Awards are prizes given each year by the Princess of Asturias Foundation, which runs them. Leonor, heir to the Spanish throne, holds the title Princess of Asturias herself, and it was in that role that she greeted the laureates, the official name for prize winners.

Among the 2026 winners are footballer Lionel Messi, astronaut Christina Koch and singer and poet Patti Smith, who takes the Arts prize. Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio, won the prize for Communication and Humanities. The novelist Julian Barnes took the literature award.

Leonor wore a bubblegum pink suit from the Spanish brand Mirto. Hello magazine described the outfit as a double-breasted blazer, a matching V-neck vest and heels. The bright colour stood out in the hall, and it was the detail most photographs of the morning picked up.

Leonor is 20 and studies political science at Carlos III University of Madrid. Before starting university she spent three years in the Spanish armed forces.

After the audience she joined her family. King Felipe, Queen Letizia, Infanta Sofia and Queen Sofia all met her there. Infanta Sofia, Leonor's younger sister, is 19 and studies at Forward College in Paris.

The main ceremony follows in the afternoon at the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo, according to the Spanish royal household, the Casa Real. The royal household's events listing placed the Oviedo engagements on 22 October. The Foundation had earlier published a programme giving 12:30 as the time for the audience with the laureates.

Viewers who could not travel to Oviedo had options. The Foundation offered a live broadcast of the awards ceremony from the Campoamor Theatre, and a separate live feed of the audience at the Hotel de la Reconquista.

The awards are presented at a formal academic ceremony each year.