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

The administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll 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.

Harvard lambasted Trump’s decision — which affects thousands of students — as “unlawful,” saying it amounted to retaliation after the prestigious university rejected his demand that it submit to oversight on admissions and hiring over claims it is a hotbed of antisemitism and “woke” liberal ideology.

On Friday, it also sued the administration, saying the move was “the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

The administration’s move quickly sparked criticism from China and Germany, while other countries preferred to wait and see how the decision would play out in the near future.

The Belgian Royal Palace refrained from sharp criticism of the decision, stressing that “a lot can still happen in the coming days and weeks.”

“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 spokesperson Lore Vandoorne.

Elisabeth is studying public policy at Harvard, a two-year master’s degree program. The princess is heir to the Belgian throne. Before attending Harvard, she earned a degree in history and politics from the UK’s Oxford University.

Elisabeth is not the only one who stands to miss out on a Harvard degree.

Among the two largest parts of the international student community at Harvard are Chinese and Indian students. The university enrolled 6,703 international students across all of its schools in 2024, according to the school’s data, with 1,203 of those from China and 788 from India.

The Chinese government responded to the Trump administration’s move as anxious students and parents overseas fretted over what would come next.

Educational cooperation with the US is mutually beneficial and China opposes its politicization, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing in Beijing.

“The relevant actions by the US side will only damage its own image and international credibility,” she said.

The Trump administration’s move, announced Thursday, was a hot topic on Chinese social media. State broadcaster CCTV questioned whether the US would remain a top destination for foreign students, noting Harvard was already suing the US government in court.

“But with the long litigation period, thousands of international students may have trouble waiting,” the CCTV commentary said, adding that international students may need to consider other options “when policy uncertainty becomes the norm.”

Indian authorities said they were assessing the impact of the US order on Indian students who are already enrolled with Harvard, as well as those aspiring to study there in the future, but have not issued any statements of criticism.

The issue of Chinese students studying overseas has long been a point of tension in the relationship with the US. During Trump’s first term, China’s Ministry of Education warned students about rising rejection rates and shorter terms for visas in the US.

Last year, the Chinese foreign ministry protested that a number of Chinese students had been interrogated and sent home upon arrival at US airports.

Chinese state media has long played up gun violence in the US and portrayed America as a dangerous place. Some Chinese students are opting to study in the UK or other countries rather than the US.

Germany similarly blasted the US government’s “fatal” decision to revoke Harvard University’s right to enroll foreign students and urged the Trump administration to reconsider.

Germany’s Research Minister Dorothee Baer told the Bayern 2 radio station Friday that she hoped “the US government will reverse this decision,” adding: “It’s not a positive signal, neither for the young generation nor the free world.”

On Thursday, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote to Harvard informing it that its certification under the main system allowing foreign students into the US had been revoked.

Arriving in Brussels for a meeting of her EU colleagues, Baer said: “We are already noticing a shift not only from American students who want to come to us but also from other countries, including China and India, who choose Europe because they simply see their freedom guaranteed differently here.”

“I never thought… that it would come to this, that the hotspot of academic freedom would someday be questioned,” Baer went on. “Yet I do not give up hope that… the ‘land of the free’ will someday again live up to its name.”