The 26-year-old car salesman who is now a prince of Belgium
Clément Vandenkerckhove was legally recognised in February by Prince Laurent, younger brother of King Philippe, at a civil registry office. The story only surfaced this week. The title arrives without the allowance or a place in the succession.
Belgium acquired a prince this week. He is 26, his name is Clément Vandenkerckhove, and until recently he was selling cars.
The recognition happened back in February, at a civil registry office, between Clément and Prince Laurent, younger brother of King Philippe. It sat there quietly for months. Only on 19 August did the story become public, and it travelled across Europe within hours.
Clément was born in August 2000, the son of Laurent and Iris Vandenkerckhove, better known in Flanders by her stage name Wendy Van Wanten, a singer and television personality. Their relationship predated Laurent’s 2003 marriage to Princess Claire. His mother named the father when Clément was 16, and the matter stayed in the territory of persistent rumour until this year.
What the title brings, and what it does not
In practical terms, almost nothing. Clément becomes entitled to the style of Prince of Belgium, but he does not enter the line of succession, does not attend official royal engagements and receives no allowance. He is reported to be keeping the Vandenkerckhove surname he shares with his mother rather than adopting his father’s dynastic name.
It is, at bottom, an acknowledgement of paternity with a very heavy label attached. The Belgian monarchy went through a louder version of the same story five years ago, when King Albert II, Laurent’s father, was eventually compelled by the courts to recognise his daughter Delphine after a legal battle that ran for years.
A family with a history of enforced discretion
The contrast between the two cases is what makes this one interesting. Delphine had to litigate to the end for what Clément secured with a signature at a counter. Laurent, over the years the most institutionally awkward member of the Belgian royal family, settled it without a courtroom and without a press release.
For readers here, the echo is immediate. Europe’s royal households remain one of the most reliably read subjects going, and this summer has been generous with material: between Prince Harry’s case against the British press and now an unexpected Belgian prince, August has delivered. Laurent’s official profile remains on the Belgian monarchy’s website.
By Lucy Bennett
Photo: agriflanders / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
