Princess Elisabeth | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Duchess of Brabant | |||||
Born | Princess Elisabeth of Belgium 25 October 2001 Erasmus Hospital, Brussels, Belgium | ||||
| |||||
House | Belgium | ||||
Father | Philippe of Belgium | ||||
Mother | Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||
Education | |||||
Military career | |||||
Allegiance | Belgium | ||||
Service/ | Belgian Land Component | ||||
Years of service | 2020–present | ||||
Rank | Second lieutenant |
|
|
Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant [lower-alpha 1] (born 25 October 2001), is the heiress apparent to the Belgian throne. The eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, she was elevated to the duchy after her grandfather Albert II abdicated on 21 July 2013. [2]
The first child of the then Duke and Duchess of Brabant, Philippe (now King) and Mathilde, Elisabeth was delivered by Caesarean section at 21:58 CET on 25 October 2001 at the Erasmus Hospital, the teaching hospital of the Université libre de Bruxelles in Anderlecht, Brussels. [3] She was baptized on 9 December 2001 in the chapel of Ciergnon Castle in the Belgian Ardennes, by the late Cardinal Danneels, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. [4] Her godparents are Archduke Amedeo of Austria-Este (paternal cousin), and Countess Hélène d'Udekem d'Acoz (maternal aunt). [5]
Elisabeth studied at St John Berchmans College, Brussels, from 2004 until 2018. [6] [7] This marked a significant change in royal tradition, being the first time that a future Belgian monarch's education has begun in Dutch. She graduated from primary school in 2013 with a 95% average on her report card. [8] In 2018, Elisabeth continued her secondary education at UWC Atlantic College in Wales under the name "Elisabeth de Brabant", receiving her International Baccalaureate Diploma in May 2020. [9] [10] She also attended the Yale Young Global Scholars Program at Yale University. [6]
In May 2020, the Belgian Royal Court announced that Elisabeth would undertake military training. [11] On 31 August 2020, Elisabeth entered the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, studying social and military sciences. [12] [6] Among the 160th promotion Elisabeth received her blue beret in September 2022, [13] having completed her one-year military training on 9 July 2021. [14] For the next two years, she attended the Royal Military Academy's annual three-week summer camps and other practical and theoretical military classes. [15] [16] She swore the officers' oath on 26 September 2023 being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Belgian Army. [17] [18]
Elisabeth went on to read history and politics at Lincoln College, Oxford, in October 2021. [19] She rowed for Lincoln College Boat Club in Torpids, an Oxford rowing race, in February 2023 under the name "Elisabeth de Saxe-Cobourg". [6] [20] In May 2024, the Belgian Royal Court announced that Elisabeth was admitted into Harvard Kennedy School to study for a two year master's degree in public policy. [21] [22] [23] She was also selected for an Honorary Award from the Fulbright program. [24]
Elisabeth speaks Dutch, French, German and English, [25] and has also taken classes in Mandarin Chinese. [26]
Elisabeth's first public appearance was on 21 July 2006, when she accompanied her parents during the Te Deum for National Day celebrations at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. [27] The following year, on 13 June 2007, Princess Elisabeth and her parents attended the opening of a new Technopolis youth interactive at Mechelen. [28] In 2009, she gave her name to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station, a Belgian scientific polar research station. [6]
In September 2011, the nine-year-old princess gave her first public speech (in Dutch) at the opening of Princess Elisabeth Children's Hospital, part of Ghent University Hospital. [29] She gave her first official self-written speech in 2014 during commemorations of the centenary of the outbreak of World War I at Nieuwpoort. [30] [27] Princess Elisabeth read the prayer intentions at her great-aunt Queen Fabiola's funeral in December 2014. [31] Princess Elisabeth was honoured to be godmother of the patrol vessel Pollux P902 on 6 May 2015 in Zeebrugge. [6] In April 2019, Elisabeth joined her father King Philippe on a visit to meet Brussels firefighters. [32] She attended the funeral of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg in May 2019. [30] In June 2019, the Duchess of Brabant and her mother traveled to Kenya for the United Nations Children's Fund, where they visited the Kakuma refugee camp. [33] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Princess Elisabeth held conversations over the phone with elderly people in residential care centers in order to give them encouragement and support. [6] On 21 July 2021, she joined fellow students of the Royal Military Academy Belgium to parade during Belgian National Day. [34]
On 12 May 2022, Princess Elisabeth accompanied her aunt Princess Astrid on a visit to St Hilda's College, Oxford. [35] There, she and her aunt met St Hilda's Principal Professor Dame Sarah Springman and the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University Professor Dame Louise Richardson. [35] On 17 June 2022, together with her mother the Queen, she was among the royal guests invited to the celebrations of the 18th birthday of Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway. [36] Elisabeth carried her two first solo official engagements in the following week by christening the Belgian oceanographic research vessel RV Belgica and inaugurating KU Leuven's Princess Elisabeth Additive Manufacturing Lab. [37] [38] In December 2022, Princess Elisabeth and her brother Prince Emmanuel participated in the Warmathon in Brussels. [39] [40]
In March 2023, Elisabeth and her mother Queen Mathilde traveled to Egypt, where they visited archaeological sites. [41] On 5 May 2023, Elisabeth accompanied her father to a reception at Buckingham Palace the evening before the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom. [42] In June 2023, she and her father attended the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan and Rajwa Al Saif. [43] Elisabeth carried her first solo official trip abroad in October 2023 by attending Prince Christian of Denmark's 18th birthday celebration banquet at Christiansborg Palace, Denmark. [44] In March 2024, she joined her father at the Castle of Laeken to receive former U.S. President Barack Obama. [45]
Elisabeth volunteers to help children with learning difficulties, the elderly, the homeless and disabled people. [11]
Ten years prior to Elisabeth's birth, a new act of succession was put into effect which introduced absolute primogeniture, meaning that she comes first in the line of succession because she is the eldest child. On 21 July 2013, once Elisabeth's father had sworn the oath of office as King of the Belgians (his father, King Albert II, having abdicated shortly before), she became heir apparent to the throne, taking the title of Duchess of Brabant. [46] Should she ascend to the throne as expected, Elisabeth will become Belgium's first female monarch. [47]
Styled "Her Royal Highness Princess Elisabeth of Belgium" from birth, when her father acceded as King of the Belgians on 21 July 2013, she was accorded the title of "Her Royal Highness Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant". [6]
|
Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled King of the Belgians and serves as the country's head of state and commander-in-chief of the Belgian Armed Forces. There have been seven Belgian monarchs since independence in 1830.
Albert II is a member of the Belgian royal family who reigned as King of the Belgians from 9 August 1993 to 21 July 2013.
Astrid of Sweden was a member of the Swedish House of Bernadotte and later became Queen of the Belgians as the first wife of King Leopold III. Following her marriage to Leopold in November 1926, she assumed the title of Duchess of Brabant. Astrid held the position of Queen of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until her death in 1935. Known for her charitable efforts, she focused particularly on causes related to women and children.
Princess Lilian of Belgium, Princess of Réthy was the second wife of King Leopold III of Belgium. Born in the United Kingdom and raised in Belgium, she became a volunteer as a car driver that transported wounded Belgian and French to the hospital in Bruges during World War II. Lilian married King Leopold III in 1941 and became consort of the Belgian monarch. The couple produced three children. She was also a stepmother to Leopold III's children from Queen Astrid and became the "first lady" of Belgium during the first nine years of her stepson King Baudouin's reign. Her charity work revolved around medicine and cardiology.
Philippe is King of the Belgians. He is the eldest child of King Albert II and Queen Paola. He succeeded his father upon the former’s abdication for health reasons on 21 July 2013. He married Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz in 1999, with whom he has four children. Their eldest child, Princess Elisabeth, is first in the line of succession.
Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este, is the second child and first daughter of King Albert II and Queen Paola, and the younger sister to the current Belgian monarch, King Philippe. She is married to Prince Lorenz of Belgium, head of the Austria-Este branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and is fifth in line of succession to the Belgian throne.
Paola is a member of the Belgian royal family who was Queen of the Belgians during the reign of her husband, King Albert II, from 9 August 1993 to 21 July 2013.
Princess Claire of Belgium is a British-Belgian land surveyor. She has been married to Prince Laurent since 2003 and is the sister-in-law of King Philippe of Belgium.
Mathilde is Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Philippe. She is the first native-born Belgian queen. She has founded and assisted charities to decrease poverty in the country.
The Duke of Brabant was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Leuven. The Duchy of Brabant was a feudal elevation of the existing title of landgrave of Brabant. This was an Imperial fief which was assigned to Count Henry III of Leuven shortly after the death of the preceding count of Brabant, Herman II of Lotharingia. Although the corresponding county was quite small its name was applied to the entire country under control of the dukes from the 13th century on. In 1190, after the death of Godfrey III, Henry I also became duke of Lotharingia. Formerly Lower Lotharingia, this title was now practically without territorial authority, but was borne by the later dukes of Brabant as an honorific title.
Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange is the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten.
Prince Gabriel of Belgium is the elder son and second child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium. He is currently second in line to the throne of Belgium after his elder sister, Elisabeth.
Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Hereditary Archduke of Austria-Este is a grandson of King Albert II of Belgium, and thus a member of the Belgian royal family. He is also heir-apparent to the headship of the House of Austria-Este, a cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and is sixth in line to the throne of Belgium.
Princess Delphine of Belgium, known previously as JonkvrouwDelphine Boël, is a Belgian artist and member of the Belgian royal family. She is the daughter of King Albert II of Belgium with Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, and the half-sister of King Philippe of Belgium. On 1 October 2020, she was lawfully recognised as Princess of Belgium with the style "Her Royal Highness". Earlier, she had belonged to the Belgian titled nobility and was legally Jonkvrouw.
Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau is the second daughter of Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. Princess Alexia is a member of the Dutch royal house and second in the line of succession to the Dutch throne.
Prince Emmanuel of Belgium is the younger son and third child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium. He is currently third in line to the throne of Belgium after his elder sister, Princess Elisabeth, and brother, Prince Gabriel.
Princess Margarita of Bourbon-Parma, Countess of Colorno, is the eldest daughter of Princess Irene of the Netherlands and Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma. She is a member of the House of Bourbon-Parma as well an extended member of the Dutch royal family. Per a 1996 royal decree issued by Queen Beatrix, she is entitled to the style and title Her Royal HighnessPrincess Margarita de Bourbon de Parme in The Netherlands as a member of the extended royal family.
Princess Eléonore of Belgium is the younger daughter and the youngest of four children of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium. She is currently fourth in line to the throne of Belgium after her older siblings Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, Prince Gabriel, and Prince Emmanuel.
Princess Carolina of Bourbon-Parma, Marchioness of Sala, is the fourth and youngest child of Princess Irene of the Netherlands and Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma. She is a member of the House of Bourbon-Parma as well an extended member of the Dutch royal family. Per a 1996 royal decree issued by Queen Beatrix, she is entitled to the style and title Her Royal HighnessPrincess Maria Carolina de Bourbon de Parme in The Netherlands as a member of the extended royal family.
Erasmus Hospital is a teaching hospital in the municipality of Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium. It is a research hospital associated with the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), and was opened in 1977. It has 1,048 beds and 4,000 employees, treating between 25,000 and 30,000 inpatients and between 350,000 and 400,000 outpatients each year.
Le Prince Philippe a annoncé, dans la nuit de jeudi à vendredi à la presse, que la Princesse Élisabeth Thérèse Marie Hélène était née à 21h58 par césarienne.
The phase will end on Sept. 25 with a blue berets ceremony. Students who pass the training will receive their blue beret in front of their family members.
Elle est commissionnée au grade de sous-lieutenant de l'armée belge. [She was commissioned at the rank of second lieutenant in the Belgian army.]
In the past, only boys could become Kings. The Constitution was changed in 1991: Princesses can now also ascend the throne and become Queen. Princess Elisabeth, who is the eldest of four children of King Philippe, is therefore the heiress of the Belgian monarchy. When she succeeds her father King Philippe, Princess Elisabeth will be the first woman to become Head of State in Belgium.
En opeens duiken nieuwe foto's van kandidaat-officier Van België in kaki uniform op? [And suddenly new photos of candidate officer Van België in khaki uniform appear? ]