Belgian car salesman becomes prince after royal parentage confirmed
Clément Vandenkerckhove was quietly brought into Prince Laurent's family at a town hall ceremony.
A former car salesman in Belgium, 26-year-old Clément Vandenkerckhove, has been legally acknowledged as the son and heir of Belgium's Prince Laurent, confirming his royal parentage.
Vandenkerckhove, whose mother is Belgian singer Wendy Van Wanten, was formally integrated into Prince Laurent's family through a town hall ceremony six months ago, though details have only recently come to light. While he now holds the title of prince, he will not be granted a royal allowance.
Having had several years to process the idea of a royal father, the new prince recently stated he is undecided about adopting his father's surname, Saxe-Coburg. He told Het Nieuwsblad, "I might want to do that, but I am proud of the name Vandenkerckhove. If I were to sacrifice that family name, it would be a betrayal of everything my mother has done for me."
He will not be included in Belgium's royal line of succession, unlike his half-sister Princess Louise and half-brothers Prince Aymeric and Prince Nicolas, nor will he participate in public royal engagements.
Vandenkerckhove is already a familiar figure to Belgians, having been featured in a Flemish TV documentary last September. In the program, he recounted how he came to know his father. Prince Laurent had been in a relationship with Wendy Van Wanten, whose birth name is Iris Vandenkerckhove, before his marriage to Princess Claire in 2003.
During the VTM documentary, Clément described an unexpected encounter with the prince in a shopping center in 2013, unaware of his identity at the time. It wasn't until he was 16 that his mother revealed his father's true identity. Four years later, he gathered the courage to call him. After several subsequent calls, they met in person, and Prince Laurent eventually suggested 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 shared with VTM. He later received an email from the laboratory confirming a 99.5% DNA match.
Prince Laurent's DNA test mirrors that of his own father, former King Albert II, who underwent a test following a prolonged paternity dispute. In 2020, Albert admitted to fathering a daughter during an affair and subsequently recognized her as his own. Albert II abdicated as king of the Belgians in 2013 amidst the royal scandal surrounding the paternity issue.
Delphine Boël, a renowned artist, ultimately won her court case, securing the right to the title of princess and now identifies as Delphine de Saxe-Coburg.
According to amendments to Belgian law in 2013, only a select few members of the royal family are entitled to public allowances: King Philippe, his father King Albert II, Prince Laurent, and Princess Astrid.