Princess Elisabeth: Belgium's Future Queen

No woman has ever worn the Belgian crown in her own right. For nearly two centuries, the throne passed strictly from father to son, a rule written into the constitution itself. Princess Elisabeth is set to be the one who finally breaks it, and the path she has taken to get there looks less like a fairy tale and more like a résumé: an International Baccalaureate, an Oxford degree, a year at military academy, and a master’s from Harvard, with the title of captain somewhere in between.

As Duchess of Brabant, Elisabeth is heir apparent to her father, King Philippe, and first in line to a throne that Belgium’s own laws only opened to women a decade before she was born.

Why she will be Belgium’s first queen regnant

Until 1991, Belgium’s constitution gave the throne strictly to male heirs. That year, the law changed to absolute primogeniture, meaning the eldest child inherits regardless of sex. The amendment came a full decade before Elisabeth’s birth, but she is the first child of a Belgian heir to actually benefit from it. When she eventually succeeds her father, she will be Belgium’s first queen to reign in her own right, rather than as a king’s wife.

Elisabeth was born on 25 October 2001 at Erasmus Hospital in Brussels, the eldest of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde’s four children. She became Duchess of Brabant, the traditional title held by the heir to the Belgian throne, on 21 July 2013, the same day her grandfather King Albert II abdicated and her father became king.

An education built for the job, not just the title

Elisabeth’s schooling reads like a deliberate attempt to prepare a working head of state rather than a figurehead. She attended St John Berchmans College in Brussels through primary and early secondary school, before moving to UWC Atlantic College in Wales in 2018, where she completed her International Baccalaureate alongside students from dozens of other countries, a notably international, non-royal environment for a future monarch.

From there she went to Lincoln College, Oxford, studying history and politics and graduating in 2024 with upper second-class honours. She followed that with a Master in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, finishing in May 2026. Few future monarchs anywhere in Europe have assembled quite that combination of liberal arts and policy training before their thirtieth birthday.

Military training across three services

Between school and university, Elisabeth spent a year, from August 2020 to July 2021, training at Belgium’s Royal Military Academy in Brussels. She was commissioned as a second lieutenant across all three branches of the Belgian armed forces, Army, Air Force, and Navy, in September 2023, and was promoted to captain in July 2026.

It is a far more hands-on military apprenticeship than most European heirs undertake, and one she has continued alongside her academic studies rather than treating as a single formal rite of passage.

A working princess, not a distant one

Alongside her studies, Elisabeth has taken on public engagements that extend well beyond ribbon-cutting. She has travelled with UNICEF to see humanitarian work in the field, and has represented Belgium at international gatherings while still a student, a pattern her father followed at a similar age, and one that suggests the monarchy sees overseas experience as part of a future king’s or queen’s preparation, not a distraction from it.

Her first foreign mission, at seventeen

In June 2019, aged just seventeen, Elisabeth joined her mother on a three-day UNICEF mission to Kenya, her first foreign trip undertaken in an official capacity. The visit began at the Kakuma refugee camp, where the pair learned about youth-led programmes and the particular challenges facing young refugees, continued to a school and a shelter for vulnerable children, and ended among Maasai communities where UNICEF supports work against female genital mutilation and child marriage.

The decision to bring Elisabeth along was reportedly made close to the trip itself, with Queen Mathilde later explaining that it was useful for her daughter to see directly what young people her own age elsewhere were living through. It set a pattern that has continued since: public duty introduced early, and tied to substance rather than ceremony.

Not the only princess training for the throne

Elisabeth belongs to a small but growing group of European heirs who have taken on formal military training once reserved almost exclusively for male successors. Princess Leonor of Spain is partway through a three-year programme rotating across all three of her country’s service branches, Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway completed an extended stint with the Norwegian armed forces between December 2024 and April 2025, and Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria has undertaken officer training of her own at the country’s Defence College.

Elisabeth’s own year at the Royal Military Academy, briefer than some of her peers’ commitments but followed by a formal commission across the Army, Air Force, and Navy, places her firmly within that same shift: a generation of future queens being given the same grounding in national defence that was, until recently, considered the preserve of princes alone.

What comes next

With her Harvard degree completed in 2026, attention has turned to what role Elisabeth will take on now that her formal education is finished. Belgian royal commentators expect a gradual increase in public duties and ceremonial appearances over the coming years, the standard path by which an heir apparent grows into the role before eventually taking the throne. There is no fixed timetable; King Philippe shows no sign of stepping back, and Belgian monarchs have historically reigned for decades.

Why it still matters

Elisabeth’s path breaks with two traditions at once: the sex of Belgium’s monarch, and the kind of preparation a future one is expected to have. An Oxford history degree, a Harvard public policy master’s, and a commission in all three armed forces is an unusually broad education for any young royal, and it suggests a monarchy quietly betting that its next head of state will need to be more qualified, not simply more decorative, than those who came before her.

Browse our Royal Figures stories for more on the people set to shape the next generation of Europe’s monarchies, including Princess Leonor, Spain’s future queen and Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Norway’s future queen.

Frequently asked questions

Why will Princess Elisabeth be Belgium’s first queen regnant?

Because Belgium changed its succession law in 1991 to absolute primogeniture, letting the eldest child inherit regardless of sex. Elisabeth is the first child of a Belgian heir born after that change, and will be the first woman to hold the Belgian crown in her own right.

When did Elisabeth become Duchess of Brabant?

On 21 July 2013, the day her grandfather King Albert II abdicated and her father, Philippe, became King of the Belgians.

Where did Princess Elisabeth study?

St John Berchmans College in Brussels, then UWC Atlantic College in Wales for her International Baccalaureate, Lincoln College, Oxford for a BA in history and politics, and the Harvard Kennedy School for a Master in Public Policy, completed in 2026.

Did Princess Elisabeth serve in the military?

Yes. She trained at Belgium’s Royal Military Academy from August 2020 to July 2021, was commissioned as a second lieutenant across the Army, Air Force, and Navy in 2023, and was promoted to captain in July 2026.

How old was Princess Elisabeth when she started her IB at UWC Atlantic College?

She began in August 2018, aged 16.

Is Princess Elisabeth currently a working royal?

She has taken on public engagements, including UNICEF-related travel, alongside her studies, and is expected to take on a steadily larger public role now that her formal education is complete.

Who are Princess Elisabeth’s siblings?

Prince Gabriel (born 2003), Prince Emmanuel (born 2005), and Princess Eléonore (born 2008).

When is Princess Elisabeth expected to become queen?

There is no set date. King Philippe remains on the throne, and Belgian monarchs have historically reigned for several decades, so her accession is not expected imminently.

Details are correct as of 2026; for the latest on the Belgian royal family’s public engagements, see monarchie.be.