4 August 2021
Belgian newspaper Le Soir was the first to carefully break an embargo and lift a tip of the veil: Crown Princess Elisabeth (19) will be moving on to Great Britain when the new school year starts.
These days Elisabeth "is taking admission exams to enter a prestigious British university", the newspaper stipulates. Even though the part about taking exams can't be right (see Laurelle's explanation underneath this post), it's now certain Elisabeth will be returning to the UK.
Last week Flemish journalists had already made it public that the Crown Princess didn't want to stray too far away from her family and that she'd previously loved being in Wales ... So the mention of a return to Britain comes as no surprise. On top of that, and in spite of Brexit, Great Britain and its public schools and top notch universities is still number one in Europe to get a high rated education, and, just as important, an excellent network.
These universities could certainly be contenders.
Cambridge
Oxford
London School of Economics and Political Science
King's College London
University of Edinburgh
University of Saint Andrews
Or one of the many other renowned institutions the United Kingdom has to offer ...
Will Prince Gabriel join his sister?
BeantwoordenVerwijderenAs for Gabriel, nothing has been announced yet.
VerwijderenHi! I saw this news earlier and I thought I would give some explanations since I found it to be quite inaccurate.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenBasically, applications to UK universities opened in September the year before. It generally only requires the candidates to submit a recommendation letter, final or predicted HS grades, and a personal statement. Oxbridge is a bit more complex since they required an interview for the shortlisted candidates (it's online for now ofc because of the pandemic). If she wanted to take Law at Oxford/LSE/some others, she needed to take the LNAT examinations (the SAT for Law in the UK) but it was something that she should've already done last year before she can apply.
Admission results should be in late January for Oxbridge, and April at the latest for others. UK unis actually need to see the candidates' actual final grades whether the grades met their requirements before they can officially admit them (Grade 12s like Gabriel applied and got accepted with a 'conditional offer' using their predicted grades). But, since Elisabeth already graduated and have her grades last year, her offer should've been unconditional already by the time she got accepted by the universit(ies).
So in conclusion, I am sure Elisabeth already knows where she will be headed next Sept/Oct. It's the matter of the court communication when they thought is the right time to announce it. I personally think they are waiting for the Olympics updates to be over so any news about Elisabeth's future plans (which will spark debates whatever path she chose) won't overshadow them. British A Level kids are also still waiting for their final result (on 10 August), so it makes sense as well if the palace decided to announce around that date. That news is only accurate if she wanted to take a gap year, but I highly doubt that's the case.
I know the news isn't that big of a deal since it's only 'reports', but I think I should give this explanation out there to avoid any kind of misinterpretation about her admission process from the public!
- Laurelle
Thank you, Laurelle, for your very clear explanation! I'm 100% sure you're right, Elisabeth already knows where she's going and the process has been followed from the start - like you describe.
VerwijderenJournalists are probably respecting court's wishes not to reveal it until they put out a press statement themselves, which is generally not a problem in Belgium. Elisabeth is very popular and so these little hints appear in the press without actually saying too much.
After the royal family's holidays a statement will certainly appear about Elisabeth's future studies, and Gabriel's too for that matter, since he's finished secondary school and will most likely also be going abroad.
If Elisabeth would have chosen a Belgian university it would certainly have sparked controversy, but I don't expect this to be the case with a foreign one.
You're welcome! Yes I too am aware of that. I was just worried that since the wording of the news says that she is taking the exams 'now' and 'is waiting for the result', once the news is out some people (especially when they look at it themselves how the admission works) would say that there is a 'special way' reserved for her to get into her university - on top with the price tag of the university and Brexit itself. That minor debates when she graduated and some people found out the document from the King Baudouin foundation about Belgian students that were selected to attend UWC in 2018 then quickly claimed that she got a scholarship to study there still bugs me a lot. 😅
VerwijderenAnyways, I am excited for her and Gabriel as well! If Gabriel do attend university this year, wouldn't that be cool to see them (most likely) graduate together?? Personal prediction, I hope Elisabeth would avoid London because we know how the paparazzis are in there.. but with LSE, UCL, and KCL there I certainly won't blame her if she decided to go there!
- Laurelle
Oh yes, wherever she goes she's bound to have a couple of wonderful years ahead of her, and a kind of freedom she'll rarely experience afterwards!
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