Belgian car salesman becomes prince after royal parentage confirmed

Belgium's Prince Laurent has legally recognised 26-year-old former car salesman Clément Vandenkerckhove as his son and heir.

Vandenkerckhove, the result of a relationship between the royal and Belgian singer Wendy Van Wanten, was quietly brought into Prince Laurent's family at a town hall ceremony six months ago, although details have only just emerged.

While he formally becomes a prince, he will not receive a royal allowance.

The new prince has had several years to get used to the idea of having a royal father, and he said recently he was not yet sure he would begin using his father's name Saxe-Coburg.

"I might want to do that, but I am proud of the name Vandenkerckhove," he told Het Nieuwsblad.

"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 part of Belgium's royal line of succession, unlike his half-sister Princess Louise and half-brothers Prince Aymeric and Prince Nicolas. Nor will he take part in public royal activities.

Vandenkerckhove is already well known to Belgians, having been the focus of a Flemish TV documentary last September, in which he described how he got to know his father.

His father had been in a relationship with Wendy Van Wanten, whose real name is Iris Vandenkerckhove, before he went on to marry Princess Claire in 2003.

During the VTM documentary, Clément described meeting the prince unexpectedly in a shopping centre in 2013, without realising who he was. It was only when he was 16 that his mother revealed his father's identity.

Four years later he plucked up the courage to ring him up, and after several more calls they met in person and eventually Prince Laurent suggested they take 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. Then he received an email from the laboratory which told him of a 99.5% DNA match.

Prince Laurent's DNA test is reminiscent of his father, former King Albert II, who had a test after a lengthy paternity battle. Albert admitted in 2020 that he had fathered a daughter during an affair and eventually recognised her as his own.

Albert II abdicated as king of the Belgians in 2013 as the paternity issue became a royal scandal.

Delphine Boël, a well-known artist, eventually won her court battle and gained the right to the title of princess, and now calls herself Delphine de Saxe-Coburg.

Under changes to Belgian law in 2013, only a few members of the royal family are entitled to public allowances - King Philippe, his father King Albert II, Prince Laurent and Princess Astrid.