Princess Elisabeth of Belgium has undertaken her first solo public engagement as she christened the RV Belgica – the country’s newest research vessel.
Just the day after her final university exam of the session, Her Royal Highness arrived in Ghent, the capital of the Eastern Flanders region, and the country’s third largest port.
Dressed in white with pink accessories, the Princess undertook the traditional christening formula, before smashing the a champagne bottle against the side of the boat, which was built to undertake marine research in Belgium and all over Europe.
In her first official engagement without her parents present, Princess Elisabeth looked in her element, despite adverse weather conditions. As she was posing for an official photograph with the authorities, it also started to rain, making for a quite chaotic and scrambled ending to the engagement, as all those present tried to find a shelter from the showers.
The ship measures 71.4 metres in length and 16.8 metres in width, and has a sampling depth of about 5 kilometres. It was built using more than 400 square metres of laboratories to accommodate multiple aspects of research, including monitoring, industry exploration and scientific research, as well as creating “a sustainable use of the ocean” policy, according to the manufacturer.
RV Belgica is property of the Belgian state, represented by the Federal Bureau of Scientific Policy, and will be managed by the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium, collaborating with the Ministry of Defense and a private operator.
The ship was docked for the entire weekend and was opened to the public. It set sail on the morning of Monday, 27th June, headed towards its base port of Zeebrugge, from where it is expected lo leave in early August directed to Cork in Ireland for its first research mission.
The Duchess of Brabant is expected to conduct her second solo engagement on Thursday, according to the Palace’s agenda, in which she will open a 3D printing lab named after her at the Louvain Catholic University, her mother’s alma mater.
