Belgium’s Prince Laurent has formally recognized his adult son, born before his marriage to Princess Claire, as a member of the country’s royal family.
The prince publicly acknowledged last year that he was the father of Clément Vandenkerckhove, 26, a former car salesman, but officially established paternity before a civil registrar in February, according to a Wednesday article in the weekly Belgian publication Soir Mag.
Vandenkerckhove was reportedly also present and signed the documents.
Last September, Prince Laurent, in a statement published in the Brussels Times, shut down more than two decades of speculation concerning the paternity of Vandenkerckhove.
“With this announcement, I acknowledge that I am the biological father of Clement Vandenkerckhove. We have spoken openly and honestly about this in recent years,” he said.
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“This announcement is based on a sense of understanding and respect for those involved. It is the result of joint consultation.”
February’s formality made Vandenkerckhove a prince, though he is not expected to take on any royal duties and will not be in line to the throne because he was not born inside a marriage approved by the government, Christian Behrendt, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Liège in Belgium, told the New York Times.
Vandenkerckhove is the child of Prince Laurent, whose last name is Saxe-Coburg, and Iris Vandenkerckhove, a Belgian model, singer and actress who goes by the stage name Wendy Van Wanten.
Prince Laurent, the younger brother of King Philippe of Belgium, has three other children with his wife, Princess Claire, whom he married in 2003: Princess Louise and twins Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric. Vandenkerckhove is the eldest of the siblings.
In June, for Father’s Day, Vandenkerckhove posted two pictures on Instagram: one of him and Prince Laurent and another with Frans Vancoppenolle, his mother’s long-term partner, with the caption: “Today I celebrate two fathers who each play an important role in my life in their own way. Thank you for everything. Happy Father’s Day!”
Vandenkerckhove, who appeared in a VTM documentary series last year in which he explained how he learned about his biological father, said he found out about his royal roots at 16. About four years later, he got in touch with Prince Laurent, who eventually suggested getting a DNA test.
“We went to the hospital together and I remember him saying, ‘I’ll go first so you’re feeling at ease,’” he told VTM.
The story follows a theme of tight-lipped paternity in the family.
Prince Laurent’s father, the former King Albert II of Belgium, was ordered by Belgian courts in 2019 to take a DNA test after resisting decades of speculation that he had fathered a daughter with Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, with whom he had an extramarital affair before becoming king.
He recognized their daughter, Delphine Boël, as his own in 2020, seven years after he abdicated the throne in 2013, citing health issues. He is now 92 years old.
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