The Belgian princess (18) has started her military training at The Royal Military Academy a few weeks ago. In photos published this week the young royal can be seen in camouflage outfit exercising, marching and running through the grounds of the military campus. The military training is set to prepare the young princess for her future role as head of state. Her father King Philippe (60) underwent a three-year program at that very same academy his daughter now attends. His daughter’s military training, however, is not expected to take three years. The court has announced that Princess Elisabeth, who is also styled the Duchess of Brabant, will spend a year studying Social and Military science at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels.

In the published photos the princess is hardly recognizable as she is undergoing her tough military training program alongside her 170 comrades. The training is an initiation program in which the recruits are being taught to orient themselves on unknown terrain and how to survive and how to fight. The Duchess of Brabant is pictured holding a gun and sitting in a classroom over maps and holding a compass.

The young royal is not given an extra treatment because of her status. She has to clean and take part in the drills like anyone else on the program. That includes workout drills in the night and long marches packed with heavy equipment. The princess can be seen doing planks alongside the other recruits a well as holding a broomstick and sweeping the floor.

Princess Elisabeth has graduated from UWC Atlantic College in Wales this year in May holding now an International Baccalaureate diploma. Her studies at the Royal Military Academy are considered to be the first of many steps in the young princess’s life to prepare her for her future role as the first Queen of Belgium. The heir to the Belgian throne has been carefully shown the ropes by her parents King Philippe of Belgium and his wife Queen Mathilde (47). Together they have four children with Elisabeth being the eldest one. Prince Gabriel (17), Prince Emmanuel (15) and Princess Eléonore (12) all live in Brussels together with the King and Queen of Belgium.

After many scandals surrounding King Philippe’s father ex-king Albert II., the current royal family enjoys huge respect and admiration in Belgium. King Philippe and his family managed to bury his father’s adulterous past and to ring in a new scandal free era for the Belgian monarchy. Princess Elizabeth, of course, plays a key role in portraying that newfound image of the Belgian Royal Family with her exceptional beauty and intellect.