The traditional reception at Marivent Palace always generates enormous expectation, but this summer's will go down in history for a very special reason. For the first time, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía accompanied King Felipe and Queen Letizia at this event of great social and political significance, a debut that undoubtedly made them the center of everyone's attention.
Their arrival was met with a warm ovation from more than six hundred guests, but attention soon shifted to a detail that quickly sparked debate in the media and on social media.
What promised to be a night of premieres and celebration was overshadowed by the controversy that, once again, surrounded the young Borbón women's outfits. Public opinion once again questioned why the heiresses don't dress according to their age.
Outfits that don't convince anyone
This isn't the first time Leonor and Sofía's outfits have caused a torrent of negative comments. However, this time, the criticism has been especially harsh. Experts and the public agreed that the ensembles chosen for the Marivent reception were outdated and unflattering for two young women their age.
Instead of opting for the freshness and modernity that people expect from them, their public appearances seem anchored in a classicism that many consider forced and outdated.
Accusing eyes quickly turned to two key figures in the Royal Family's image: the Queen's stylist and Queen Letizia herself. For some time now, rumors have circulated insistently that it is the monarch's trusted team who take charge of her daughters' wardrobe.
However, the most critical voices go a step further and suggest that it is Letizia herself who prefers her daughters to keep a low profile when it comes to fashion, thus avoiding the possibility that they might outshine her at official events. A strategy that, if true, would be having the opposite effect to the desired one, generating unnecessary controversy.
Sofía takes a stand, tired of feeling disguised
The one who seems to have said "enough" to this situation is Infanta Sofía. After turning eighteen last April, the youngest daughter of the King and Queen is becoming fully aware of the power of her image and, according to sources close to the palace, she is no longer willing to feel disguised.
It is said that her weariness has led to the first serious confrontations, as she now understands the anger her sister Leonor has expressed in private on more than one occasion over the outfits she was forced to wear. In this regard, she points not only to Letizia, but also to the Queen's stylist, who reportedly chose the dress based on the instructions of Felipe VI's wife.
Journalists specializing in the Royal Family, such as Maica Vasco, have put this widespread feeling into words, showing their astonishment at choices as ill-advised as the suit Sofía wore at the Princess of Girona Awards. "I'm realizing that I saw Sofía very sad, serious, and cornered. They dress her terribly," Vasco commented, adding harshly that "no one in their right mind would wear that suit."
This growing tension reveals a crack in the ironclad image of control projected by Zarzuela. Infanta Sofía is no longer a child, and her desire to forge her own identity, also through fashion, directly clashes with the vision imposed from the palace. The question that remains is whether she will manage to impose her own criteria in future appearances or if this stylistic battle will become a new source of conflict within the Royal Family.