Belgian media reports that Prince Laurent of Belgium has officially acknowledged his illegitimate son, Clément Vandenkerckhove. This recognition took place in February before a civil registrar. Soir magazine was the first to publish the news.
For several years, Laurent was in a relationship with Iris Vandenkerckhove, who gave birth to their son on August 16. 2000. A popular singer, Iris is better known as Wendy van Wanten.
Three years later, he married British-born Claire Combs, the mother of his three younger children.
Clément, 26, is now legally HRH Prince Clément, but the title will give him no royal obligations, nor will he represent the Belgian royal house. He will not receive an appanage or public funds. In 2013, the Belgian parliament passed a law limiting an allowance to the Sovereign and the heir apparent.
With official recognition by Prince Laurent, the youngest of King Albert and Queen Paola's children, Clément is now a legal heir to his father's estate. When Prince Laurent dies, Clément will "inherit equally" with his half-siblings, Princess Louise, Prince Aymeric, and Prince Nicolas.
Unlike his younger half-siblings, Clément will not be added to the line of succession as he was born out of wedlock.
The royal title is from a Royal decree on November 12, 2016, stating that "children and grandchildren born in the direct line of descent from His Majesty King Albert II" are Princes and Princesses of Belgium.
The decree did not limit the title to legitimately born children. The precedent is Albert's youngest daughter, Delphine, whose mother was his mistress. She fought a long court battle that eventually ended in her favor, after Albert provided a DNA test that proved conclusively that he was her father.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-new-princess-in-belgium.html
Clément can legally change his surname to de Saxe-Cobourg if he chooses. Earlier this month, Thomas Siffer, a journalist with Het Nieuwsblad, interviewed him and asked about a possible name change.
"I might want to, but I am proud of the name Vandenkerckhove," Clément said. "Sacrificing that family name would be a betrayal of everything my mother has done for me." He might consider a double surname: Vandenkerckhove-de Saxe-Cobourg.
The young man was sixteen when his mother told him that he was Prince Laurent's son. Four years later, Laurent spoke to his son for the first time.
Clément told Siffer that he and his father now have a "good relationship. He gives me lots of support. If I need him, he is there. That makes me happy." Siffer pressed the young man for more details. According to the journalist, Clément shifted "uncomfortably in his chair."
The young man added: "When I call my father and ask, 'Are we going to do something tomorrow?' he always makes time for me. Then we go to a restaurant in Brussels, for example. Just like four days ago. We are pasta lovers. That way, we have already done so many wonderful things together. Really, my life couldn't be better right now."
He described his father as a "beautiful person. The hardship he had to live with is terrible. I can tell you a lot of things, emotional things. But the most important thing is that he has put his hand on my shoulder. You wouldn't believe how many hours we have already chatted."
Clément acknowledged that he struggled with the question: 'Who is my father?' After his mother told him the truth, he said "the secrecy weighed heavily" on him as he could not tell anyone that Prince Laurent was his father.
For the past six years, Clément has been involved in a relationship with Venezuelan-born Guadalupe Borrero Ferreira. They met online after Lupe and her family fled Venezuela, settling first in Portugal and then Belgium.
Siffer asked Lupe if she was with Clément because "he is a scion of our royal house."
She said: When we fell in love, I didn't even know that his mother was a popular. Let alone that Clément was the son of a prince. I fell in love with a handsome Flemish boy with a beautiful personality."
The journalist added: "But the blood of three Leopolds flows through his veins ...Jesus, that whole royal house is in his DNA."
Lupe's response: "Yes. And at home he has to do the dishes."
[The link below is to the complete interview and photos of Prince Clément and his girlfriend. You can use click translate with your mouse.]
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2025/09/prince-laurent-of-belgium-admits-he-has.html
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