When Europe’s Future Queen Studies Mandarin and Arabic, It’s Worth Pausing for a Moment

Princess Leonor of Spain is learning Mandarin and Arabic. At first, that just sounds impressive — another gifted royal with a long list of languages. But if you think about it more carefully, it is actually very telling. Royal education does not change for fashion. It changes when the world changes. So when future European leaders are being trained in the languages of Asia and the Middle East, it quietly tells us where they believe the future of power, trade, and influence is heading.