The health of the young heiress
Princess Elionor, who is the legitimate successor to the Spanish throne, is facing a medical challenge reminiscent of that of her father, King Philip VI. Since the latter’s youth, the royal family has handled with great discretion a condition that has marked her life: onychophagia. This habit of biting her nails has been evident on many occasions during her public appearances, where her fingers can frequently be observed with dressings or injuries caused by this behavior.
Queen Sofia’s intervention
Faced with this problem, Queen Sofia promoted a peculiar method to help her son: she applied garlic to his nails, hoping that the strong aroma would dissuade him from continuing biting. However, this effort was not entirely successful and the problem has persisted into Felip VI’s adult life.
Concerns about Princess Eleonor
Attention now focuses on Princess Elionor, since, according to testimonies from her classmates at the Military Academy, she also shows signs of suffering from onychophagia. Like her father, she has been observed putting her fingers in her mouth, biting her nails and the skin around them, which causes notable deterioration in her hands. Aware of her habit, Princess Elionor seeks to avoid being photographed in this situation, hiding her hands or moving them quickly.
A worrying legacy
However, onychophagia is not the only issue of concern for the Royal Family. There are fears that the heiress has also inherited a more serious illness from her father: narcolepsy. This little-known sleep disorder has had a considerable impact on Felip VI’s youth.
Impact of narcolepsy on Felipe VI
Narcolepsy is a chronic condition that causes excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden episodes of deep sleep. Although there is no cure for this disease, the symptoms can be managed through specific treatments.
Academic difficulties due to drowsiness
Royal commentator Jaime Peñafiel has mentioned that King Felipe VI faced serious difficulties, both academic and personal, due to extreme drowsiness that led him to fall asleep even standing up. Peñafiel highlights that, at the age of sixteen, Felip was a young man with great challenges due to his constant fatigue. According to him, ‘Felip at sixteen years old was a spoiled child, with poor school performance and attendance problems, added to his notable difficulty: sleep. He fell asleep even standing up, waking him up every morning became a complicated task.’
Elionor’s academic situation
Unfortunately, this problem also seems to be affecting the young heiress. Sources close to the Academy indicate that Elionor has been seen asleep in class on several occasions. ‘Sometimes he falls asleep in class,’ an anonymous source told an information portal. These difficulties linked to sleep could be an additional challenge for the young future queen, who already faces a complex hereditary situation.
