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Princess Elisabeth of Belgium has officially completed her two-year graduate studies program at Harvard University. The young royal earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She previously graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and politics at Lincoln College, a school at Oxford University, in 2024.
To commemorate her graduation, Princess Elisabeth shared some never-before-seen photos from her time on Harvard’s campus, published to the Belgian royal household’s social media accounts. In the series of images, Elizabeth is dressed in a white two-piece set from Southern California fashion label Reformation with an Isabel Marant saddle bag, and seen visiting the campus bookstore, the Kennedy School library, and walking around the streets of Cambridge.
Elisabeth’s parents, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, traveled to Boston this week for the graduation festivities. The King and Queen accompanied Elisabeth, who is heir to the Belgian throne, on Tuesday to meet with Jeremy M. Weinstein, dean of the Harvard Kennedy School. The royals were then seen on campus Wednesday, which was also Class Day at Harvard, where Elisabeth wore a red and white patterned, silk dress from Maje. Held the day before formal commencement, Class Day is a student-run celebration, and each graduate school holds its own version.
Princess Elisabeth at her graduation ceremony on Thursday.BENOIT DOPPAGNE – Getty Images
(BENOIT DOPPAGNE – Getty Images)
Also styled as the Duchess of Brabant, Elisabeth enrolled at the Ivy League institution in the fall of 2024. Her studies were nearly disrupted last summer as a byproduct of Harvard’s ongoing dispute with the Trump administration. In May 2025, the federal government had announced a ban on international students at Harvard. It was speculated international students might continue their studies remotely online, based on learning experiences from the pandemic, but nothing was announced with certainty. Belgian news site Het Laatste Nieuwsreported in July that King Philippe and Queen Mathilde did not want preferential treatment for their daughter. Elisabeth was also said to want to “show solidarity with other foreign students.”
Harvard immediately challenged the White House in court and a federal judge has since blocked the Trump administration’s ban. While the court proceedings played out, international student visas were renewed, allowing students to return to school, in person, by the first day of the fall semester. Princess Elisabeth, along with other Belgian students, were reported to have received their visas by August.
King Philippe taking a photo of Queen Mathilde and Princess Elisabeth after her Class Day ceremony.Photonews – Getty Images
(Photonews – Getty Images)
The Belgian royals chat with other graduates on Class Day.Photonews – Getty Images
(Photonews – Getty Images)
Princess Elisabeth is among several royals who have studied at Harvard University. Her cousin and the son of Princess Astrid, Prince Joachim, earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2021. Denmark’s King Frederik studied abroad for a year at Harvard for the 1992-93 school year, under the name “Frederik Henriksen.” Perhaps most impressively, Empress Masako of Japan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
Elisabeth’s father, King Philippe, however, opted for the West Coast, and obtained a master’s degree in political science from Stanford University in 1985.
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