Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, 20, stuns in royal blue suit as she welcomes Barack Obama to the palace in rare engagement

Princess Elisabeth of Belgium has taken time away from her studies to carry out a rare royal assignment as she welcomes a very special guest to her home country.

The 20-year-old royal, who is studying at the University of Oxford, hosted former US President Barack Obama this weekend as she joined her father, King Philippe, in Brussels.

Elisabeth looked statuesque in a sharp royal blue suit with a wrap jacket and wide-leg trousers as she smiled next to the ex-president, who was flanked on the other side by the Belgian monarch.

Although the Belgian royal family welcomed a very special guest of honour, it was Elisabeth who seemed to steal the show as fans took to social media to praise her stunning outfit and professionalism.

After the Belgian Royal Palace posted the photo of the three figures on Instagram, the photo was flooded with comments in praise of the future Queen of Belgium.

“The Crown Princess looks amazing in blue,” one person wrote.

Another said: ‘What a beautiful blue outfit for the princess.’

Many royal fans were happy to see their future queen fulfilling royal duties as she is currently putting her studies first.

‘Wow for Princess Elisabeth!’ one person wrote and added: ‘The king can be proud of his daughter.’

The princess’s appearance comes after speculation about her love life was quashed at Oxford University amid reports she was dating an ‘ordinary’ young man.

Belgian media reported last month that the 20-year-old had found love with 20-year-old Nicholas Dodd from Rochdale.

It was reported that the couple met when Elisabeth began studying history and politics at Lincoln College.

Mr. Dodd is studying History at the same university according to Het Laatste Nieuws, a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium.

The local publication, citing a “key source,” claimed that “ordinary” Nicholas and the princess had an “instant bond” after ending up in the same study group and developing a relationship that “transcends friendship.”

However, the rumors were quashed when Dodd’s family said the reports were ‘false’.

‘They just go to the same university and study together. Like all his other friends, I cannot comment further,” an unnamed family member said Manchester Evening News.

When asked about the rumors, the Royal Palace declined to comment, according to the French-language Belgian television channel RTL.

“We do not respond to rumors about the private lives of members of the royal family,” the statement said.

Nicholas is described as an ‘intelligent and inquisitive young man’, who appeared on the Rochdale Sixth Form College website after being accepted into the University of Oxford.

He wrote: ‘I applied to Oxford because I wanted the opportunity to study at a world-class university.

‘I felt I should apply as there was nothing to lose by trying! It was also rewarding because the experience developed my analytical skills. Even if my application fails, the skills I learned will still help me now and in approaching my work in the future.

‘I would recommend applying to Oxbridge even if you have doubts. You have nothing to lose and if you spend some time on it, it will be a valuable experience in itself,” he added.

Princess Elisabeth, born on October 25, 2001, is the eldest of the four children of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium.

When her father became king in 2013, Elisabeth became heir to the throne and Duchess of Brabant.

Elisabeth began attending royal engagements from an early age and was only nine when she gave a speech at the opening of the Princess Elisabeth Children’s Hospital.

Nicholas, on the other hand, went to Rochdale Sixth Form and lives with his mother in a £300,000 house during the school year, after losing his father Andrew to cancer in 2007.

Like a number of other European monarchs, including Princess Leonor of Spain and Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, Elisabeth attended Atlantic College in Wales before moving to Oxford.

The school curriculum, nicknamed ‘Hippie Hogwarts’, includes unusual activities such as Tai Chi and Tibetan literature. It has a remarkable cliff-top location in a 12th-century castle in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Elisabeth enrolled on a two-year, £67,000 course to study for her International Baccalaureate diploma at the school, which she has now completed.

Before her two-year education in Wales, she attended the Dutch-language secondary school Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege in Brussels. The Princess also attended the Yale Young Global Scholars Program at Yale University.

She then completed a one-year course in social and military sciences at the Royal Military Academy, which would provide in-depth instruction in the four components of Belgian defense: army, air force, navy and medical care.

In addition to her education, the Princess began studying history and politics at Lincoln College, Oxford, in October 2021. Here she rows for the Lincoln College Boat Club under the name ‘Elisabeth de Saxe-Coburg’.

According to the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, the princess took a written history entrance exam ‘anonymously’ so that her social status would not affect her grades.

It is believed that Elisabeth chose the course herself, in consultation with her parents, and reportedly consulted with graduates from various universities and made her decision based on what would be most useful to her in her role as queen later in her life.

Elisabeth is a talented 21-year-old in every way and, according to the official royal website, she enjoys walking in nature, reading and playing the piano – although her taste in music, like “all young people her age”, it writes palace, ‘is varied.’