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Princess Elisabeth (born 25 October 2001 in Anderlecht) is the eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and first in line to the Belgian throne [1][2]. She has held the title Duchess of Brabant, reserved for the heir, since 21 July 2013 [1][2]. She belongs to the House of Belgium. This page uses only the information published by the Belgian Royal Palace on monarchie.be.
Heir to the throne
Until 1991 only men could succeed to the Belgian throne; the Constitution was amended that year so that princesses may also reign [2]. As the eldest of the King's four children, Elisabeth is therefore the heir, and the Palace notes that she will become the first woman to reign over Belgium [2].
Education
After the Dutch-speaking Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege in Brussels, she obtained the International Baccalaureate at UWC Atlantic College in Wales in 2020 [1]. In July 2021 she completed a year of Social and Military Sciences at the Royal Military Academy in Belgium [1]. In July 2024 she graduated in History and Politics from Lincoln College, Oxford [1]. She is currently studying for a Master in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School [1][2].
Public role
Her first official activity, in September 2011, was the inauguration of the Princess Elisabeth Children's Hospital in Ghent [1][2]. On 18 October 2014 she gave her first speech, in Dutch, French and German, to commemorate the First World War, and on 6 May 2015 she christened the Belgian Navy patrol vessel Pollux [2]. Belgium's Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research station also bears her name [1].
Licence: this article is original GOTHA text, released under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Its sources are summarised or briefly quoted.