It’s not often that Spain’s royals have been on the right side of trouble in recent years. However, as they marked a milestone birthday for one member of the ruling dynasty, a key decision taken months ago worked perfectly in their favour.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia’s younger daughter, Infanta Sofia, turned 18 on April 29 2025 and, as planned for quite some time, kept everything very low key. In fact, a set of rather nice photos shared on social media was it. The lot. Todo. And what a decision that turned out to be. For Sofia, second in line to the throne, reached the age of majority less than 24 hours after Spain was hit by one of the worst power outages in Europe in decades.

On her actual birthday. which she is spending in Wales where she is completing her secondary education, Sofia’s home country was grappling with the consequences of a blackout that had seen rail, road and air travel paralysed and hospitals forced to switch to emergency power supplies. There had been panic buying in shops as card payment systems went down and that was only after long queues at the ATM for the cash needed to pay in many instances.

Against that backdrop, Spain’s royals partying for a big birthday might not have been the best look. However, the decision to keep things muted for the Infanta has paid dividends.

In recent months, there’s been a clear signal from the Zarzuela Palace that Sofia is following a different path to her older sister, Princess Leonor. For while the two might be very close (there’s just 18 months between them and the bond shared by the sisters is evident), they also have very different futures.

Leonor, who is now 19, will one day be Queen of Spain. As such, her 18th birthday saw her travel to Spain’s parliament with her family where she publicly swore allegiance to Spain’s constitution. Her secondary education has been followed by military training and she’s spending her sister’s 18th birthday at sea as she completes a year with Spain’s navy.

Sofia, meanwhile, won’t serve with the military. She is currently finishing her own schooling in Wales, at UWC Atlantic College, but what happens next hasn’t been revealed in detail by her royal family.

Spain’s royals have been beset with problems in recent years many of them attributed to Sofia’s grandfather, King Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014 after a string of scandals. The most popular member of the family remains the birthday girl’s grandmother, Queen Sofia, after whom the Infanta is named. But at the age of 87, she is scaling back her engagements.

However, Sofia and Leonor are already popular and performing engagements (well, it might be added). While plenty of commentators have said that ”the future is Leonor”, she needs the strong support of her sister to make that reality. The decision to keep Sofia’s big birthday rather small in public has been a wise one and a good foundation for the sisters who will keep Spain’s royal family going into a new generation.