A Belgian car salesman became a prince after Prince Laurent formally recognized Clément Vandenkerckhove, 26, as his secret son. Vandenkerckhove was legally recognized by Laurent, 63, King Philip’s younger brother, as his son and heir in a quiet town hall ceremony about six months ago, with details only now emerging, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday. The new prince now has the same inheritance rights over Laurent’s private estate as his half-sister Princess Louise, 20, and his half-brothers Prince Nicholas, 20, and Prince Aymeric, 19. Prince Laurent of Belgium legally recognized former car salesman Clément Vandenkerckhove, 26, as his secret son. Instagram / clement_vandenkerckhove But despite Vandenkerckhove’s new title, he will not receive a royal assignment, take on official duties or gain any right to the Belgian throne. Vandenkerckhove has not yet decided whether he will adopt Laurent’s Saxe-Coburg surname. “Maybe I want to, but I’m proud of the name Vandenkerckhove,” he recently told Het Nieuwsblad. “If I sacrificed that last name, it would be a betrayal of everything my mother has done for me.” The real secret remained buried for years until Vandenkerckhove appeared in a television documentary on Belgian network VTM last September and publicly confirmed that Laurent was her biological father. Vandenkerckhove with her mother, Belgian singer and socialite Wendy Van Wanten, whom Laurent dated in the 1990s. @wendyvanwanten/Instagram Vandenkerckhove was born in August 2000, the daughter of Belgian singer and socialite Wendy Van Wanten, whose real name is Iris Vandenkerckhove. She and Laurent had a high-profile relationship in the 1990s after meeting at a fashion show in Paris, before he married Princess Claire in 2003. In the documentary, Vandenkerckhove said his mother finally told him that Laurent was his father when he was 16. Prince Laurent with Wendy van Wanten, whose real name is Iris Vandenkerckhove, in Brussels on September 24, 1996. Photonews via Getty Images Four years later, she plucked up the courage to call the prince, and the couple eventually underwent a DNA test that showed a 99.5 percent match. “We went to the hospital together and I remember him saying, ‘I’ll go first so you can feel comfortable,’” Vandenkerckhove told VTM. Laurent later confirmed that Vandenkerckhove was his biological son and said they had had “open and honest conversations” privately in recent years. Princess Claire and Prince Laurent at their wedding in Brussels on April 12, 2003. Isopress/Shutterstock Vandenkerckhove had bumped into Laurent in a shopping center in 2013, not realizing that the man was her biological father. Before becoming prince, Vandenkerckhove worked as a car salesman at an Opel dealership in Deinze, building a life far removed from the Belgian royal family, according to Het Nieuwsblad. He studied graphic design and is known for his love of fast cars and horses. The royal family’s latest secret echoes Laurent’s own family history. Laurent said he and Vandenkerckhove had been having “open and honest conversations” privately in recent years. PPE/SIPA/Shutterstock Her father, former King Albert II, 92, spent years fighting a paternity battle before admitting in 2020 that he had fathered a daughter during an affair. Delphine Boël, 58, finally won her legal battle and obtained the title of princess. She now uses the name Delphine of Saxe-Coburg.
