Palace issues statement as princess' future in US hangs in balance

The future in the US of the Belgian future queen, Princess Elisabeth, hangs in the balance as Donald Trump attempts to ban international students from Harvard University. The US president revoked the university’s ability to take international students after Harvard defied White House demands.

In April, the Secretary of Homeland Security demanded that the university hand over information about foreign students who could be implicated in violence or protests, but Harvard refused. The Department of Homeland Security then claimed Harvard was an unsafe environment, accusing it of cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party and allowing “pro-terrorist agitators” to protest Israel’s war on Gaza.

If this ban goes ahead, almost 7,000 current students will be forced to transfer to other colleges or lose their right to stay in America. One of these could be Princess Elisabeth, the heir to the Belgian throne.

She trained at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, studying social and military sciences, and graduated from Lincoln College at Oxford University in 2024 with a degree in history and politics.

The 23-year-old princess, the eldest of King Phillipe and Queen Mathilde’s children, recently completed her first year of a graduate school programme at Harvard and received an Honorary Award from the Fulbright programme and reportedly speaks four languages.

Xavier Baert, the palace’s communications head, said: “We are looking into the situation, to see what kind of impact this decision might have on the princess, or not. It’s too early to say right now. And we’ll have to see what happens next [school] year.”

A Massachusetts judge has issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s measure. Harvard and the Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors have also challenged the President’s actions.

Harvard has warned that “this retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”