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Princess Eleonore of Belgium arrives for a state banquet at the Royal Castle of Laeken on June 23, 2026.Credit :
Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Getty
Princess Eléonore of Belgium has announced her college plans, and she’s taking a different path than her older siblings.
The 18-year-old princess, the youngest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, is set to study Liberal Arts & Sciences at University College Utrecht in the Netherlands, starting in September. Over the course of the three-year program, Eléonore will design her own curriculum by selecting courses from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences in order to earn a Bachelor of Science (BSc) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.
It’s a departure from the secondary school pursuits of her older siblings, who all also chose different paths of their own.
Princess Elisabeth, the 24-year-old heir apparent to the Belgian throne, graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School in May, having completed her two-year master’s degree in public policy. She previously earned her Bachelor’s degree in history and politics at Oxford.
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Prince Gabriel, 22, completed a one-year preparatory course at the National Mathematics & Science College in England before graduating from the Royal Military Academy of Belgium. As part of his military training, he also studied geopolitics at the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr in Coëtquidan, France.
Meanwhile, Prince Emmanuel, 20, studied business at the International School of Brussels, graduating in 2024.
The educational next step comes just a few months after Eléonore’s latest royal milestone. In June, she made her tiara debut at a state banquet celebrating the state visit from Japan at the Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels.
The young princess glimmered in a swirling diamond tiara, identified as by Belgian jeweler Cooseman, which was reportedly an 18th birthday present from her parents.
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The Belgian princesses and princes have all been busy with their education, with a recent milestone being King Philippe and Queen Mathilde traveling to Boston for Princess Elisabeth’s graduation ceremonies.
If she succeeds her father as expected, Princess Elisabeth is poised to make history as Belgium’s first queen regnant, or the first woman to reign as monarch in the country’s history. She could also be one of several queens of similar ages to ascend European thrones around the same time, alongside Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway and Princess Leonor of Spain.
Opinions on voluntary abdication by reigning monarchs vary amongst the royal families of Europe, but there is precedent in Belgium. King Philippe acceded to the throne in 2013 at age 53 after his father, King Albert II, abdicated at 79 due to health concerns. His grandfather, King Leopold III, also abdicated in 1951 amid a political crisis to safeguard the monarchy.
Last year, the monarch was asked if he planned to do the same for his daughter in the future.
“A King steps back but is not retired,” King Phillipe answered, according to a translation shared by HOLA!
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“I will continue to work for Belgium, and I must give my daughter time to enjoy her youth, develop herself and see the world. I support her 100% in that, and I will do everything I can to give her all the time she needs to do,” he added.