A Belgian car salesman has gained the status of a prince at the age of 26. DNA testing has confirmed that he is the son of Prince Laurent, the younger brother of Belgium’s King Philippe.
According to a CNN report, Clément Vandencarkhove’s mother is the popular Belgian singer Wendy Van Wanten. She had a relationship with Prince Laurent in the 1990s. However, it was not until Clément was 16 that his mother first revealed to him that Laurent was his father.
Nearly a decade later, it was revealed this week that his blood ties to the Belgian royal family have been legally recognized. Six months ago, he was acknowledged as Prince Laurent’s son and heir during a private ceremony at a local town hall. This recognition followed the confirmation of their father-son relationship through DNA testing.
Last Wednesday, The Telegraph reported that Prince Laurent had officially registered himself as Vandencarkhove’s father in the Belgian civil registry.
As a result, the new prince has secured equal inheritance rights to Laurent’s personal assets alongside his half-sister Princess Louise (20) and half-brothers Prince Nicolas (20) and Prince Aymeric (19).
These three are the children of Laurent and his wife, Princess Claire, who married in 2003. However, Vandencarkhove will not receive any royal allowance, nor will he be required to perform any official royal duties. Furthermore, he will have no claim to the Belgian throne.
He has the option to adopt his father’s family name, Saxe-Coburg, but has stated that he currently has no desire to change his surname.
Vandencarkhove recently told the Flemish daily Het Nieuwsblad, “I am proud of the name Vandencarkhove. If I were to give up this family name, it would be a betrayal of everything my mother has done for me.” Vandenkerckhove was born in August 2000 to Belgian singer Wendy Van Wanten; the singer’s real name is Iris Vandenkerckhove.
A relationship had developed between Wendy and Prince Laurent following a chance meeting at a fashion show in Paris during the 1990s. However, the relationship was short-lived. At the time, there were rumors that Laurent’s father—the former King of Belgium—did not approve of the relationship.
In a documentary aired on the Belgian channel VTM last September, Vandenkerckhove revealed that her mother had once told her that Prince Laurent was her father.
Four years later—at the age of 20—she reached out to share the information she had received from her mother with her father. Prince Laurent subsequently agreed to undergo a DNA test.
Vandenkerckhove told VTM, “We went to the hospital together. I remember him saying, ‘I’ll go first so that you feel at ease.'”
Vandenkerckhove also mentioned that, after the DNA test confirmed paternity, father and son engaged in an “open and honest discussion.”
