Crown Princess Elisabeth of Belgium was born with a weighty title. After today, she’s adding a second: master in public policy. On Wednesday, Belgium’s future queen attended part of her graduation ceremony following two years of study at Harvard’s Kennedy School. She will receive her diploma Thursday. Her parents, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, are in the Boston area to celebrate the milestone. The Royal Household shared photos of Elisabeth and her parents meeting with the school’s dean, Jeremy Weinstein, before the school’s awards ceremony for the class of 2026 Wednesday.
Under her cap and gown, Elisabeth wore a cream dress with red flowers from Maje. A group of photographers accompanied the princess on a tour of the Ivy League university’s campus in Cambridge, stopping to take photos in a library and by the doors of the school’s headquarters on John F. Kennedy Street. In the Harvard Book Store, photographers captured her posing in front of a Belgian flag. The account also shared photos of King Philippe when he graduated from Stanford with a master’s in political science back in 1985. According to Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, Elisabeth’s plans following graduation include a sailing trip across the Atlantic, from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, and a potential gap year. (The Royal Household did not respond to a request for comment.)
Philippe became king in 2013 after his father, King Albert II, abdicated for health reasons. When Elisabeth ascends the throne, she will be the first ever queen regnant—that is, woman on the throne in her own right—in her nation’s history. Four other European princesses—Leonor of Spain, Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, and Victoria of Sweden—are also set to become constitutional monarchs in the not-too-distant future.
Crown Princess Elisabeth, Queen Mathilde of Belgium and King Philippe – Filip of Belgium ahead British journalist Z. Minton Beddoes’s address to the Class of 2026.Photo by Benoit Doppagne / BELGA MAG / Belga / AFP via Getty Images.