The heiress to the Belgian throne, Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant will turn 18 in October, and from that moment on, she has the right to an official allowance. However, it has been announced that this allowance will not be given until the Duchess of Brabant is ready to take on royal duties.
This will leave the Duchess of Brabant free to continue her studies. She is currently attending the Atlantic College in Wales, where she will remain until at least the summer of 2020. Afterwards, she will attend university and possibly also have a military education.
With an official allowance, the Duchess of Brabant will be expected to have her own household, with her own staff and a formal agenda. She will have to undertake duties and report to parliament and Court of Audit of Belgium. Her father, the King of the Belgians, receives 12,2 million euro per year. Her uncle, Prince Laurent receives 320,000 euro, and his allowance was lowered last year after he joined a reception at the Chinese embassy without asking for permission – he appealed that decision. It is the government that decides the amount, and an amount of 920,000 euro per year has been going around.
Her Dutch counterpart, Princess Catharina-Amalia, the Princess of Orange, will receive her official allowance of 1,4 million euro upon her 18th birthday in 2021, but this decision was heavily criticised by politicians.
The Duchess of Brabant is the eldest child of Philippe, King of the Belgians and Queen Mathilde. She was born on 25 October 2001 and has three siblings: Prince Gabriel (born 2003), Prince Emmanuel (born 2005) and Princess Eléonore (born 2008). Ten years before her birth, a new act of succession ensured that the eldest child would be the heir apparent, regardless of gender.
She became the Duchess of Brabant upon her grandfather’s abdication in 2013, and she will be Belgium’s first Queen regnant.
