Princess Elisabeth has completed first year of master’s degree but Trump administration’s crackdown may jeopardise studies

Princess Elisabeth, the 23-year-old future queen of Belgium, has just completed her first year at Harvard University but the ban imposed by Donald Trump’s administration on foreign students studying there could jeopardise her continued attendance.

The US president’s administration revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol international students on Thursday, and is forcing current foreign students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status in the US, while also threatening to expand the crackdown to other colleges.

“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. We are currently investigating the situation,” said a spokesperson for the Belgian royal palace, Lore Vandoorne.

  • flango@lemmy.eco.br
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    7 hours ago

    Fuck off! She’s rich AF, who’s really suffering is the bright and poor immigrant that got this one chance to have a good education

  • etuomaala@sopuli.xyz
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    8 hours ago

    It does raise the question of why her royal highness could not deign to attend a Belgian university in the first place lol

    • golli@lemm.ee
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      Considering her future job as queen will involve a lot of diplomatic and ceremonial functions it does kind of make sense to me that you’d want her to gain some international experience.

      Also on a personal level i’d imagine it is much easier to have some resemblance of a private life in a foreign country, especially at a prestigious institution where plenty of others share notable backgrounds, compared to going to a local university where everyone knows who you are. In a small country like Belgium you probably don’t even have much choices as to which university even offers a good program in your chosen field.

      Edit:

      Elisabeth initially studied at St John Berchmans College in Marollen, Brussels from September 2004 until August 2018. This marked a significant change in Belgian royal tradition, being the first time that a future Belgian monarch’s education has begun in Dutch

      In May 2020, the Belgian Royal Court announced that Elisabeth would undertake military training. On 31 August 2020, Elisabeth entered the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, studying social and military sciences

      - wikipedia

      Really seems like the worst candidate to make this accuse against

    • Breezy@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Because going to another country where she’ll learn to deal with another cultures is important and will be a huge part of her future. You raise a question when the answer should be easily understood.

  • Ginny [they/she]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    12 hours ago

    I am anti-monarchy and I don’t particularly give a shit that this woman has to change universities or whatever, but quite frankly I’m shocked by the amount of comments here hoping for horrific things to happen to a woman just for being born into a family they don’t like.

    • poopkins@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      It’s the toxic cesspool of the anonymous internet. All these communities are the same.

    • Clbull@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      I thought the royals in mainland Europe were generally well-liked? I’m only basing this on the lack of negative attention they get compared to the British royal family.

      • Ginny [they/she]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        12 hours ago

        I’m British so I can’t really say, but I think if not more well-liked, they’re at least more low key. Britain made its royal family part of its brand, and with that comes a lot more coverage, better or worse.

  • HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    18 hours ago

    Someone told me this whole attack on Harvard is all because Harvard rejected Baron trump and while I haven’t looked into it that would make so much sense

    • Yeather@lemmy.ca
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      8 hours ago

      I’ve looked into it, there really is not any indication Barron ever applied to Harvard, he is going to the same business school as his brothers and father, the likelyhood he applied anywhere else is low. The attack on Harvard can be recontextualized as a big liberal name in a big liberal state going against what he wants.

    • TassieTosser@aussie.zone
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      14 hours ago

      Trump doesn’t care about anyone but himself. This is because Harvard is refusing to bend the knee.

      • Infinite@lemmy.zip
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        13 hours ago

        Narcissists are likely to treat offspring as a personal extension into the future.

  • KayLeadfoot@fedia.io
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    I’m sure this will work wonders for American soft power on the world stage.

    Having a literal fucking queen with fond memories of America from her youth is political influence that money cannot buy. What an idiotic fumble.

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      Belgian chiming in, people here really have* developed a strong distaste for the US. I’d say 90% of people I know don’t care at all for the monarchy, but this is blasted in the news as an example no one is safe from USA’s shenanigans.

      Professors and Universities are condemning this, it’s such a major step in the wrong direction once again.

      • LupusBlackfur@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        people here really have* developed a strong distaste for the US

        And rightly and deservedly so…
        🤷‍♂️ 🙄 🖕

        • kernelle@0d.gs
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          1 day ago

          I personally know two people who’ve cancelled US trips, one of which is because she’s gay.

          Really wondering when they’ll realise just how fucked they are.

          • cmbabul@lemmy.world
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            23 hours ago

            When you say they, do you mean Americans paying attention, Trump voters and supporters, or the assholes making these decisions?

            The first group are painfully aware of how fucked we are, the second MIGHT when they lose their home/job or have a loved one hauled away to a concentration camp but even then they might never because pro American propaganda has burrowed itself so deeply into their minds they truly believe the exceptionalism horseshit, the third either knows and is fine with it because they are just trying to consolidate power or is one of the ignorant true believers like the second group.

            I fucking hate my country

            • kernelle@0d.gs
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              20 hours ago

              Mostly the people making the decisions, but don’t feel too bad, the EU is rapidly shifting to the right as well. The main positive takeaway is I’ve never seen the EU this unified.

              • cmbabul@lemmy.world
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                20 hours ago

                Really hope y’all are able to right that specific ship, we’re gonna need help but I also just wouldn’t wish this on anyone

      • Pup Biru@aussie.zone
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        20 hours ago

        every day that passes it gets harder and harder to just say “lol sorry” and the world to have the memory of a goldfish and just reply “ahhhh water under the bridge” as soon as a suitcase of money is waved under our collective noses

          • Pup Biru@aussie.zone
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            14 hours ago

            first time you can almost forgive as an accident… second time means it wasn’t an accident and the society is built around that being viable: you never know when it’ll happen again, and that’s not a viable strategy for long-term investment of either capital or influence

            BUT… governments and businesses have a short memory and bad risk evaluation where money is concerned

  • Zenith@lemm.ee
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    23 hours ago

    Why does he have the power to ban people from going to a private university?

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    what a toxic piece of shit, he is like the most obnoxious type of kid who screams, flails arms and legs when he loses a game and gets confronted about his shitty behaviour. except he is also the president of the US

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    If the Trump admin wasn’t obviously a fascist dictatorship I might be able to feel good about Belgian royalty being treated the same as anyone else. However, this has nothing to do with traditional American values of an even playing field, because the Trump admin just refuses to recognize any royalty except Trump.

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    A relative of King Leopold II, the number 4 ranked mass murderer. Look up Belgian Congo and that monarchy should have been torn down.

    However, Krasnov’s revoking international students that apply to Harvard is plain stupid and very fascist/communist move.

    • lagoon8622@sh.itjust.works
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      9 hours ago

      fascist/communist

      Come on. Aren’t we better than this? Your other points are correct but get out of here with this horseshoe bullshit

      • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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        My grandmother was jailed by the Nazis and survived WW II. Post WW II, my relatives were on both sides, East Germany and West Germany. Tell me again how I know the similarities between the fascist and communist when it boils down to power and corruption. It’s not horseshoe BS.

        • lagoon8622@sh.itjust.works
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          Absolutely none of that has anything to do with the dictionary definition of communism. You can use “totalitarianism” if you can fit that into your vocabulary

  • Ymer@feddit.dk
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    1 day ago

    Of all the people suffering from Trump’s deranged actions, European royalty are probably not the most deserving of pity.

    • THB@lemmy.world
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      I think you’re missing the point. It’s not about pitying her, but bringing more attention to the utterly stupid things happening

      • Ymer@feddit.dk
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        1 day ago

        And I think you’re missing my point. To the Crown Princess, this is a mild inconvenience and will probably eventually turn in to an interesting anecdote. She can slide right into any other Ivy League university if she wants to, or she can head home to a local university without worrying about applications, grants or anything else of that boring stuff. To many other students, this might wreak havoc on their academic careers and their economies. That is some of the utterly stupid stuff that should be brought to attention. Tell me their stories.

        Admittedly, I’m a European republican, i.e. in the non-US sense of the word, but still. This article reads more like a gossip piece than international news.

        • Kickforce@lemmy.wtf
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          13 hours ago

          Belgian here, one who still has some sympathy for the royals, but that is not the point. I sincerely hope no special provisions are made for her and she makes a bit of a stink about having to go off to a non US university. Europe should be cutting as many ties with the US right now as it can. The princess being there at all really doesn’t give a good message.

        • THB@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          I did not miss your point, I agree completely and couldn’t care less about this princess. The point of articles like this is to get more general public eyes on these issues. The point of this is to get some racist white Americans to maybe actually pay attention.

          • LeninOnAPrayer@lemm.ee
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            18 hours ago

            This is literally only for some old pearl clutching lifelong Democrat voters. “Oh no not the poor queen” is not something anyone that voted for Trump would say. Ironically, it’s gonna be one thing progressives are gonna have in common with Trump voters. We both don’t give a fuck about this queen. Trumps entire base is built on fake working class outrage.

            This article and story does nothing to change any minds.

        • lime!@feddit.nu
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          something i’ve learned by observing people who like the swedish royal family is that they all really like them. there are no casual royalists. the fact that this happens to a royal introduces this issue to an entire group of voters whose entire news intake consists solely of “what did the royal family do today”.

          personally i would fully support converting my country to a republic if we hadn’t designed our entire legal system to make the head of state completely useless. instating a president would put a politician in charge of the country, instead of the way it is now where the king basically doesn’t know what goes on in the riksdag and has no say in what happens there. so nobody can even begin to aspire to lead the country, which i like.

          the exorbitant amounts of money the royals get from the state is a bit of an issue, but i do kind of like the novelty. one of my favourite dedications of a book is from Fairy Tales for Children Over 18, which is dedicated to “Mr. The King, whose mere existence proves that we live in fairyland”

          • LeninOnAPrayer@lemm.ee
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            18 hours ago

            Dude the ven diagram of the people that voted for Trump and also care a lot about royals is like 8 people.

            • golli@lemm.ee
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              7 hours ago

              To me this news seems more targeted towards european audiences, which couldn’t vote for Trump anyways. Normally you’d expect someone like her to be the last one affected by something like this, if at all. So this drives home the point that it can literally happen to anyone, not just certain groups.

            • Chocobofangirl@lemmy.world
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              7 hours ago

              Well yeah, but the venn diagram of royalist stans and (hopefully former if this gets in their newsfeed) non-voters is probably a lot higher.

        • njm1314@lemmy.world
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          24 hours ago

          Plenty of people are telling those stories, so the question really is how come you’re reading this one instead of those.

          • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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            22 hours ago

            Because newspapers like the Guardian don’t publish them when there are princesses available and Lemmings upvote articles about the royals like this is going to be a major turning point rather than the exact point Trump would love to spread far and wide.

  • Genius@lemmy.zip
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    18 hours ago

    Why do we care about whether a princess can study in another country? Fuck princesses, they’re nepo baby billionaires plus a “divine right” to oppress people.

    • Eximius@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Hey, don’t put any random rich-ish person from Europe into the same US billionaire basket

        • nyctre@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          You’re either overestimating the Belgium crown’s power or underestimating the power of money. Also: “Belgium’s monarchy has topped the list as Europe’s poorest royal family, with the Belgian monarch King Philippe estimated to have a fortune of about €12.4 million”

            • nyctre@lemmy.world
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              14 hours ago

              Never said she was poor, just not “more power than money can buy”.

              Also, you’re paying more in taxes than many people’s yearly gross income so maybe you’re not so poor yourself so… Yeah…

                • nyctre@lemmy.world
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                  12 hours ago

                  What do you mean not really? Minimum wage in most countries is below 25k/year. If you’re playing 40k in taxes, it means you’re earning a lot more than that. Median is somewhere around 40-50k, so you’re earning more than that as well. You have no idea how privileged you are if you think you have it bad.

                • aidan@lemmy.world
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                  12 hours ago

                  You’re definitely earning more than me, but I’m also a freelancer. So much of at least Czech and Polish tax code is set up to make it far more expensive to run a small business or be self employed, than to work for a company

  • LeninOnAPrayer@lemm.ee
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    18 hours ago

    Honestly. If a couple bourgeoisie take some strays for Trump’s awful policies I’m not gonna shed a tear. Who the fuck cares about a Belgium queen? I care about the working class kid that isn’t gonna graduate. Fuck the Queen.

    • aidan@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      I care about the working class kid that isn’t gonna graduate.

      There’s a near zero amount of working class kids studying abroad at Harvard

    • Bravo@eviltoast.org
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      This however highlights the fact that foreign students used to be a source of revenue for the USA. This is wealthy European money that was getting spent in America but now will likely be spent somewhere else.

      This is also denying American Harvard business students the opportunity to establish lucrative connections with European money. You’ve heard of “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”? Poor Harvard students on a full scholarship who plan on setting up their own business someday could have benefitted from being classmates with the future queen of Belgium.

      My point being that even if you fully subscribe to “America first”, this is still a really dumb policy that’s shooting America in the foot. Foreign students studying in America were, by definition, bringing money into America. No longer.

      • LeninOnAPrayer@lemm.ee
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        Your points are speaking to a Trump voter that would never even care about those things because they would never actually apply to them. They live in a contradiction that doesn’t apply to what you’re saying.

        You literally replied with talking points that only benefit rich well off bourgeoisie. I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make or who you’re trying to convince. Because this definitely doesn’t appeal to the me (looking at this from a class perspective) or the idiot Trump voter (looking at this from a “fuck the elite” perspective).

        The later of which is just, on average, an uneducated working class idiot that thinks we live in a meritocracy but blames the “elite” for their position in it. They lack class analysis to actually understand where to direct that anger. But Harvard and “Queens” are the definition of that elite to them.

        Who is this article supposed to appeal to? That’s my question. This is just garbage puff that distracts from the real problems with Trump’s policies.

        It only appeals to well off petty bourgeois Liberals that have nothing better to care about than some “royal” being effected by a policy that they are only, at best, collateral damage to.

        • Bravo@eviltoast.org
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          10 hours ago

          See, that’s bullshit because you can’t be outraged that Harvard admits foreigners but also pretend to not care about or be affected by Harvard at all.

    • drawb@lemmy.ml
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      I understand. But Trump seems to like being invited by royalty (at least UK royalty). Also visited her father when in Belgium during his 1st term. Probably not, but if he isn’t welcome because of this (among other things) next time, Trump could do something you do care about. He acts much more bourgeoisie than this princess (not yet queen) seems to act.

  • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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    14 hours ago

    On the one hand I wish anything bad that’s possible on anyone who’s royalty. On the other hand this might shine a light on Trumps bullshit in a way that even his supporters might start questioning.

    • Grimtuck@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Why would your heart be so dark as to wiah bad on someone just because of who their parents are? That’s not okay.

      • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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        She’s an adult, she has the choice. She can step away like Prince Harry for example. As long as she remains crown princess, she’s perpetuating royalty.

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      even his supporters might start questioning

      Lol nope. Have you ever met a trump supporter who didn’t have resentment towards higher education? I sure haven’t.

      • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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        Luckily I live far away from them, so I haven’t met any. But yeah maybe I’m still too optimistic because of it.

        • aidan@lemmy.world
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          You definitely have. Whenever people meet me they feel the need to tell me which American politicians they support for some reason. And a non-zero percent of them in essentially every country like Trump. And of Chinese people I’ve met it’s 100% for some reason lol

  • KulunkelBoom@lemm.ee
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    Either not white enough for trump or hasn’t payed the orange shitnozzle enough homage.

    Coin toss but odds are on not enough $$

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    We finally found an immigrant that deserves to be sent to a prison in El Salvador. Other than Musk, that is.