27 August 2026
Prince Gabriel (23) graduated today with a Master's degree in Military and Social Sciences from the Royal Military Academy in Brussels.
His parents and his sister Elisabeth were present at the graduation ceremony.
Elisabeth was wearing the new uniform of the ground forces.
It's been announced the Prince will be continuing his military career at the Ecole d'Infanterie, followed by a formation to become a paracommando. He changed his beret to a brown one, the one worn by the paracommandos.
Gabriel is the first Belgian royal to complete the entire formation at the Ecole Royale Militaire.
Elisabeth only completed the first year, and took part in summer camps.
Prince Gabriel however was a student like all the others. He was an intern at the Academy during the week and proved to be a very devoted, athletic and strong student. He did a 6 month internship (Erasmus) at the prestigious Saint-Cyr academy at Coëtquidan in France, where he obtained his parachuting license. There were also bootcamps in Morocco and French Guyana.
One of his friends, a non-commissioned officer named Julien, talked to the press about Gabriel.
"When we started at the Academy, everyone was saying "that's the prince, there's the prince" but I'm not impressed by those things so I just struck up a conversation with him and that formed the base of our friendship. People should know that he's really normal. Except he has a title to his name and we don't but he's a very normal guy. Every Thursday night, when I went out for drinks in Brussels he came along, or we'd have dinner together somewhere."
"Gabriel's a tough guy. He'll set himself a goal, like running 160 kilometers and then he'll completely focus on that goal and give it his all, even to an extreme like continuing when he gets injured along the way. He did the Jaguar jungle bootcamp with the French Foreign Legion. He did really well, which also proves he's got a lot of stamina."
"We bonded over the military aspect of this formation. We both love sports and the military. He's into power training, climbing ... And from day one he wanted to become a paracommando, just like his dad. His dad showed him pictures and told him stories about his own time as a paracommando and that just got the idea into his head. When his dad visited military units and Gabriel would go along they would talk to the people on the ground and that inspired him even more".
Finally Julien also adds that Gabriel is very fluent with words, he knows how to phrase things, and his friend wouldn't be suprised to see him turning to diplomacy as a career.
Video: https://vrtnws.be/p.yGKA1nwnVZ1
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