FILE - Count Felix and Princess Elisabeth of Belgium during Prince Christian’s 18th birthday gala dinner at Christiansborg Castle in Copenhagen, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - Belgium’s Crown Princess Elisabeth, center, takes part in a three-day exercise at an Army Commando Training Center in Marche-les-Dames, Belgium, Monday, July 26, 2021. (Frederic Sierakowski, Pool Photo via AP, File)
Belgian princess left in doubt about her Harvard future following Trump’s foreign student ban
BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥 Belgium鈥檚 Royal Palace said Friday that Princess Elisabeth, who is first in line to the throne, is waiting to find out whether she can return to Harvard for her second year after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ban on foreign students at the university.
FILE - Count Felix and Princess Elisabeth of Belgium during Prince Christian’s 18th birthday gala dinner at Christiansborg Castle in Copenhagen, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥 Belgium鈥檚 Royal Palace said Friday that Princess Elisabeth, who is first in line to the throne, is waiting to find out whether she can return to Harvard for her second year after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ban on foreign students at the university.
The Trump administration on Thursday revoked Harvard University鈥檚 ability to enroll international students in its with the Ivy League school, saying thousands of students must transfer to other schools or leave the country.
鈥淲e are looking into the situation, to see what kind of impact this decision might have on the princess, or not. It鈥檚 too early to say right now,鈥 said the palace鈥檚 communications head, Xavier Baert.
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A Harvard professor spoke strongly against the Trump administration's recent decision to block the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students. The move threatens to undermine Harvard鈥檚 stature, its revenue and its appeal among top scholars around the world. (AP Video / May 23, 2025)
Baert said that Princess Elisabeth, aged 23, has completed her first year of a graduate school program at Harvard and would spend the summer back in Belgium. 鈥淎nd we鈥檒l have to see what happens next year,鈥 he said.
The princess is the first of four children born to King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, and has been studying for a Master in Public Policy. Last year, she obtained a degree in history and politics at Lincoln College at Oxford in the U.K.
Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, accounting for more than a quarter of its student body. Most are graduate students, coming from more than 100 countries.
The university on Friday in federal court in Boston, saying that the Trump administration鈥檚 action violates the First Amendment and will have an 鈥渋mmediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.鈥
