The Royal Palace of Brussels has been forced to offer a statement after President Donald Trump attempted to deny thousands of international students, including Princess Elisabeth, the heir to the Belgium throne, the ability to study at Harvard University.
Princess Elisabeth, 23, recently completed her first year of a graduate school program at the world-famous institution, and is now back in Belgium for the summer.
© Photonews via Getty ImagesHowever Trump’s order — which already has a temporary restraining order against it by a Massachusetts judge – will impact the 2025/2026 class if it goes ahead.
Palace statement
The palace’s communications head, Xavier Baert, 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,” he said.
© Photonews via Getty ImagesWho is Princess Elisabeth?
Elisabeth is the first of four children born to King Philippe and Queen Mathilde; they are also parents to Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel and Princess Eleonore.
She trained at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, studying social and military sciences, and graduated from Lincoln College at Oxford University in the U.K in 2024 with a degree in history and politics.
The 23-year-old received a Honorary Award from the Fulbright program, and also participated in the Yale Young Global Scholars Program at Yale University. She reportedly speaks four languages.
© Max Bueno / Belgian Royal PalaceTrump vs Harvard
On April 16 Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, demanded that Harvard turn over information about foreign students that might implicate them in violence or protests, and they refused.
The President has accused the university of having “anti-American” value, and has attempted to freeze billions in government grants to Harvard University, with challenges coming from the school itself and the Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
Trump has also attempted to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status.
© Getty ImagesFirst Amendment violation
The retribution against organizations and firms violates the First Amendment to the U.S.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the action on Thursday May 22, saying Harvard had created an unsafe campus environment by allowing “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to assault Jewish students on campus.
It also accused Harvard of coordinating with the Chinese communist party but has offered no evidence at the time of writing.
© Getty ImagesIn a statement, the agency said: “This means Harvard can no longer enrol foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.”
Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the majority of foreign students sar in the graduate program and come from over 100 different countries.
“This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission,” the university said in a statement.
