Belgium's future queen caught up in Trump administration's Harvard foreign student ban effort

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

May 23, 2025, 10:24 AM EDT


The future queen of Belgium may face complications pursuing her master's degree at Harvard amid the Trump administration's move on Thursday to ban the Ivy League school from enrolling international students.

Princess Elisabeth, 23, is the eldest of four children to Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, and the future heir to the throne. The Duchess of Brabant is currently pursuing a master's degree in public policy at Harvard, following an undergraduate degree in history and politics from Oxford University in the U.K.

“Princess Elisabeth has just completed her first year. The impact of (the Trump administration’s) decision will only become clearer in the coming days/weeks," the Belgian Royal Palace’s spokesperson Lore Vandoorne told Reuters. "We are currently investigating the situation.”

Harvard sued the administration on Friday in response to the ban, arguing efforts to block foreign students from enrolling violates the First Amendment and would significantly alter the university's operations, where a quarter of the student body are international students.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/belgiums-future-queen-caught-trump-administrations-harvard-foreign-stu-rcna208731

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[greatauntoftriplets]

1. I have cousins in Belgium.

They hate drumpf already. This won't help.

[IronLionZion]

2. She's stealing our jobs

[Paladin]

3. "But, but, but...We didn't mean for it to hurt WHITE, ATTRACTIVE ROYALTY!!!!"

I can just hear trump's White House pimps screaming it.

[Mawspam2]

4. Put her on a plane to CECOT.

[FakeNoose]

5. Wasn't it just announced yesterday that a federal judge ruled against Chump's directives?

It seems that Chump's effort to single out Harvard - one of the highest rated schools in the world - will fail miserably. The federal courts are not going to lie down for this. Harvard has a very good case and will probably win.

On the other hand, Princess Elisabeth can surely enroll in Yale or another great Ivy League school and transfer back to Harvard once Chump loses his case.

[IronLionZion]

6. MAGAts are probably thinking this opens up more spots for MAGAts

Steve Bannon is online blovating that they need to do the same to state schools like Wisconsin and Michigan. Maybe even Trump's alma mater of UPENN.

[SpankMe]

7. America's slow death

Future foreign leaders getting their higher education in the US is one implementation of US "soft power" that the Orange Asshole® is slowly beating to death.

Europe is full of great universities, but many Europeans - including royalty and the offspring of current leaders - still opt for getting their higher education in the US.

This is coming to an end under Trump. He's beating down US colleges and universities that don't submit to his agenda. He's flushing all foreigners out of US institutions. He's scaring US academics into working for non-US academic and industrial entities, and into leaving the country. He's glorifying and flattering "the uneducated" and elevating them into high places of government power. He's the leading general in the war on science.

If these aren't the actions of someone trying to destroy America, then I don't know what is.

[Hekate]

14. Not even a "slow death" -- a very fast and intentional decay. In the 20th century the US benefitted...

…from the brain drain of scientists and academics getting out of Europe and the USSR. It was part of what made us “great” in the 20th century.

Now in the 21st century, our best and brightest are being driven out by MAGAGOP.

Brain drain out of the US. Who the hell benefits by this? As always — follow the money.

[IbogaProject]

8. I don't care about any so called Noble nor any so called Royals

Noble and Royal titles are an anathema to our way of life. Sorry I am an anti royalist, what is called Republican in the UK. We shouldn't recognize any government organized that way it is a primitive and backward type of government, no matter how much liberalization exists. The fact that that wealth isn't taxed and worse may be subsidized by national taxes is disgusting. I do like that Belgium has a government that runs on autopilot if a new one isn't passed, that is a much better system than our debt ceilings and budget cliff hangers.

[Hekate]

12. You are exactly the kind of American who should have gone to college with a passle of foreign students...

Your entire world would have opened up — and your college would have reaped great economic benefits from students having to pay full tuition and then some. I’m talking about public institutions specifically, since those are the ones I attended. Even my small community college in SoCal had a couple dozen back in the 1960s. My university had many more.

A place like Harvard was beyond the wilde$t dream$ of anyone in my family, ever, and for females, never. It was a “white man’s college” and a WASP college, with a tiny quota for Jews (which didn’t affect my family, although the Irish very notably are not WASP either)

Despite all that, Harvard has given enormously to our culture. Its problems are not the presence of foreign elite students. It’s always needed some DEI from its very own country.

Going back to what you said: don’t apologize for being “an anti-royalist” , apologize for your lack of experience. Especially since we now have a strongman president of our own who wants his idiot children to inherit his job. At least all the remaining European monarchies are bound by their countries’ constitutions, while our brutish strongman is ripping ours to shreds.

[IbogaProject]

15. I did attend with foreign students

Two of my best friends were a Haitian and the other was from Trinidad, respectively. Other housemates were from Beirut and Holland. And I had a high school teacher who came over with the Nazi Horde that the GOP brought in at the start of the Eisenhower administration, he got to be a Senate Page at age 16 having zero ties to our country or culture. Those scumbags have been building up and are the muscle behind this fascist attempt to rebuild our country for the worse. I'm OK with rich students coming over and studying at full price. I am against them getting diplomatic privileges while they are here. And I am against the tax breaks and exemptions those "royals" enjoy. They are parasites and should be taxed for each and every year their loot was held untaxed.

[IbogaProject]

16. UK Constitution ??

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/explainers/what-uk-constitution

The UK is often said to have an 'unwritten' constitution, but this is not strictly correct; it is largely written, but in different documents. It has never been codified; brought together in a single document. In this respect, the UK is different from most other countries, which have codified constitutions. But not all: New Zealand and Israel also lack a codified constitution.

Codified constitutions are typically produced following a major historic turning point, such as the grant of independence, revolution, defeat in war, or complete collapse of the previous system of government. None of these things have happened to the UK, which is why it has never had cause to codify its constitution. (Our one revolution, in the 17th century, did briefly produce a codified constitution: Cromwell’s Instrument of Government).

This is the reason why the UK has not felt the need to codify its constitution. But the UK does have a constitution, to be found in leading statutes, conventions, judicial decisions, and treaties. Examples of constitutional statutes include the Bill of Rights 1689, Acts of Union 1707 and 1800, Act of Settlement 1701, Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, Human Rights Act 1998, Scotland Act, Northern Ireland Act and Government of Wales Act 1998. Examples of conventions include that the monarch acts on ministerial advice; that the Prime Minister sits in the House of Commons; that the Queen appoints as Prime Minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons. These and other conventions have themselves been codified in documents such as the Cabinet Manual.

Parliamentary sovereignty is commonly regarded as the defining principle of the British Constitution. This is the ultimate law-making power vested in the UK parliament to create or abolish any law. But parliament can limit its law-making power, as in the Human Rights Act; or devolve legislative power, as in the Scotland Act. Other core principles of the British Constitution include the rule of law, the separation of government into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, the accountability of ministers to parliament, and the independence of the judiciary.

[IbogaProject]

17. That stupid Belgian Royal family get paid from taxes

https://www.brusselstimes.com/800396/royal-rip-off-belgian-monarchy-will-cost-taxpayer-more-in-2024

In 2023, the royal cost in Belgium made headlines as their dedicated budget was reported to increase by over one million. This year, the Belgian monarchy is set to cost the country around €43 million, just under €4 – or a cappuccino – per Belgian inhabitant.Jul 21, 2024

And that royal family only started paying taxes in 2014. I am fine with foreign students just not ones with inherited titles and diplomatic immunity coming in and crowding out more deserving students.

[Hekate]

18. You're adorable. "Deserving foreign students" are those who can pay the huge tuition...

Don’t know what else to tell you.

Also, just in case it isn’t 100% obvious as a “soft power” strategy, they (future leaders in their various nations, regardless of whether they are “royal” or not) hopefully graduate having made friends here and with warm feelings toward America as a nation and a democracy.

But not to worry, trump is taking care of that, bigly. By the time he’s done having Gestapo oops, I mean ICE, snatch foreign students off the streets for any reason or no reason, cuff them roughly and toss them into unmarked vans for transport to the Deep South, no one is going to want to come here.

[IbogaProject]

19. Bless you

You conflated my points. I was reffering to any other academically qualified student as being more desreving than an undertaxed spoiled royal taking up a seat at one of our top schools.

Any ways, be well.

[rurallib]

9. Maybe she needs to buy some trump meme coins?

maybe about $20 million or so worth.

Not a "bribe" - an investment

for the humor impaired

[Bev54]

10. The daughter of Canadian PM Carney

Is also caught up in it.

[PortTack]

11. Doubt it!

[Deep State Witch]

13. Too Bad

She is just the Crown Princess and not the Queen. She could go all Danerys Targaryen on FOTUS.