As Belgium's crown princess starts her spring break at Harvard, let's look ahead at what could be in store for her in the near future.
Until mid April Elisabeth will still be attending classes, followed by a two week study period and her final exams. The graduation ceremony will take place on Thursday 28 May 2026, in attendance of her parents.
But what's next once she's pocketed her master's degree? Court will only make an official statement about this in May.
However royal reporter Wim Dehandschutter was allowed to brief that we won't be seeing Elisabeth just yet as a fulltime working royal. She'll work & grow in her role without immediately stepping into the limelight. Once she does this, there's no way back and King Philippe has made it clear last year that at 65 he's still fit, sharp and determined to go on for many years.
Does this mean we won't be seeing Princess Elisabeth more often? No, not at all. She will be doing internships, getting acquainted with Belgian institutions, government, diplomacy, culture and all aspects of society. And preparing for the trade missions abroad which she will be presiding in a couple of years, taking over from her mother.
But a completely official role where she's as active and visible as, let's say her mother has been since 2000, isn't on the agenda yet.
Dehandschutter speculates she may well volunteer abroad for a while, like both her parents did when they were in their twenties. A thing that's very much encouraged in Elisabeth's circles.
It looks as though Elisabeth will only be starting an active presidency of the trade missions in 2028. Mind you, she'll then still be only 26. There's no immediate plan for Elisabeth to join Mathilde on a mission, but this could still very well change. After all, they have already been on foreign working visits together twice: A Unicef mission to Kenya in 2019 and a cultural visit to Egypt in 2023.
Undoubtedly we will be seeing more of Elisabeth. Let's not forget she was present at two new year's receptions in 2026: the one with the EU leaders and the one with NATO president Mark Rutte. Unlike King Philippe who wasn't invited by his father to come along and grow in his role, Philippe wants his daughter to have the best possible preparation and to make the most of the time she now has to be young, find her way in life and start a family.
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