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The Belgian royal family has had much to celebrate this summer. Following Princess Elisabeth’s graduation for her master’s degree at Harvard University in May, her brother Prince Gabriel graduated today from the Royal Military Academy in Brussels. Per The Brussels Times, he has completed his own master’s degree in social and military sciences.
His parents, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, were present for the ceremony, as was Elisabeth, who swore her own officer’s oath at the same academy in 2023. King Philippe attended in both a personal and professional capacity; as King of the Belgians, King Philippe officially presides over and reviews graduation and officer-swearing ceremonies at the Royal Military Academy.
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Prince Gabriel (left) salutes during the graduation ceremony.
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Queen Mathilde, King Philippe, and Princess Elisabeth during the ceremony.
Prince Gabriel has now completed one of the most intensive military training programs undertaken by a member of the Belgian royal family. His time at the academy included an Erasmus exchange study program at France’s prestigious Saint-Cyr Military Academy, where he earned his parachutist wings following three weeks at the Airborne Troops School. Per Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, he is the first Belgian prince to complete the full social and military sciences program at the Royal Military Academy.
The graduation comes just a week after his 23rd birthday, which the Belgian Royal Palace marked in unusually adventurous fashion. Rather than releasing a formal portrait, the palace shared photographs of Gabriel climbing through the glaciers and peaks of the Mont Blanc massif–a stretch of the Alps that spans France, Italy, and Switzerland–including a stop at the Refuge Albert Ier, a mountain hut named after King Albert I of Belgium, his great-great-great-grandfather, who was himself a passionate mountaineer. Albert I died in 1934 following a climbing accident near Marche-les-Dames in Belgium, the same location where Gabriel will soon begin the next stage of his military career.
Prince Gabriel will train as an infantry platoon commander at the Infantry School in southeastern Belgium before moving on to paracommando training. He is set to become the first member of the Belgian royal family to pursue a salaried career within the country’s Ministry of Defense, following a recent legislative change that allows royals who receive no state allowance to work professionally within the armed forces.
Gabriel is part of a broader pattern among young European royals who are pursuing serious military careers. In Denmark, Crown Prince Christian has followed a military path as part of his preparation for his future role as monarch, and his younger sister Princess Isabella recently began her own training. Princess Leonor, the heir to the Spanish throne, completed three years of military training at Spain’s Army, Navy, and Air Force academies.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.