Belgium's heir Princess Elisabeth graduates from Harvard Kennedy School as parents look on

Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant and heir apparent to the Belgian throne, graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School with a two-year master's degree in public policy, with commencement festivities centred on 27-28 May 2026. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde travelled to Boston for the ceremonies; People reported a moment in which the King photographed his wife and daughter. The 24-year-old previously earned a bachelor's degree in history and politics at Oxford University.

As the eldest of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde's four children, Elisabeth is positioned to become Belgium's first-ever queen regnant — the first woman to reign as monarch in the country's history — following the 1991 constitutional reform that abolished male-preference primogeniture for the Belgian crown. Belgian media, cited by the outlets, reported she plans to take a gap year that is expected to include a sailing voyage across the Atlantic before progressively expanding her royal duties. Her US studies had earlier been disrupted in the public conversation by the Trump administration's pressure on Harvard's enrolment of international students, which had raised questions over whether she could complete the programme; her graduation effectively closed that chapter.

The completion of an elite Anglo-American education, following Oxford and a stint at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, is widely read as part of a deliberate preparation of the future Belgian head of state.