Science & Engineering for Social Change

ANPPrincess Alexia during the photo shoot in June

NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 14:59

Princess Alexia will study at University College London (UCL). She will start there in September with a bachelor’s degree in Science & Engineering for Social Change. This was announced by the Government Information Service.

The princess had registered at several places, including the University of Groningen. Last month she said she was still suffering from choice stress.

The study that Alexia has chosen is according to website from UCL on “solving grand societal challenges”. Students study a variety of topics from technical, social and political perspectives. The multidisciplinary knowledge they gain is, according to the university, “in demand by businesses, charities, government and policy functions”.

Alexia obtained her international VWO diploma, the International Baccalaureate, in Wales last year. The now 19-year-old princess attended the United World College of the Atlantic, where her father King Willem-Alexander also used to go.

Last year, the princess took a gap year. During King’s Day in Emmen, she let slip a little bit about the content for the first time. She said that she had been able to travel and “learned about many different cultures”. She also said that she had “worked a little”.

Italy and Spain

Alexia is not the only one of the three princesses to choose to spend time abroad. Princess Ariane decided last year to continue her secondary education in Italy. She is attending the United World College (UWC) Adriatic, near Trieste.

Princess Amalia studied in Spain last year because of threats. She had more freedom of movement there. She is now back in Amsterdam, where she studies Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics at the UvA.

Limited by cameras

Amalia and Alexia said at a photo shoot in June that they experience less freedom than their peers because they can be photographed or filmed wherever they go. According to Alexia, it is “of this time that everyone has a camera with them” and that videos and photos are easily put online.

She understands that people recognize her and that it is “interesting” to them. “But I do feel limited by it.” Alexia says she feels like she can’t do what her peers do because she is afraid “that it will all be on social media the next day.”

That fear is not unfounded: in 2022, private videos of the princess were leaked via TikTok, and a year earlier, a photo of the princess partying was leaked. The Government Information Service emphasizes that “the princess’s study time is considered private.”