For years, Clément Vandenkerckhove led a life completely removed from palaces. He worked as a car salesman and grew up bearing his mother’s surname.
But at 16, he discovered a secret that would change his life forever: his biological father was Prince Laurent of Belgium, the younger brother of the current king, Philippe.
Clément is the son of Laurent and Belgian singer, model, and actress Wendy Van Wanten. The possibility that the prince was his father had been a rumor for years, due to the relationship they had in the 1990s.
According to Clément, when he was 20, he finally got in touch with Laurent. Later, the two underwent a DNA test that showed a 99.5% match, confirming paternity.
Prince Laurent himself publicly recognized Clément as his son in 2025. But now something even more surprising has happened.
In February 2026, the two went to a civil registry office to legally formalize the parentage. With that procedure, Clément automatically became the Prince of Belgium, in accordance with the country’s monarchy laws.
Thus, the young man who until recently worked selling cars officially became a prince at the age of 26.
However, he will not have a prince’s life exactly like the ones in the movies.
Clément will not receive a state allowance, will have no official duties, and is not in line to inherit the Belgian throne. He will, however, have equal inheritance rights to his father’s private estate alongside his other children.
And there is one thing he does not seem willing to change either: his surname.
Although he could legally adopt his father’s surname, Saxe-Coburg, Clément has said that he prefers to keep Vandenkerckhove in honor of his mother.
“Giving up this surname would be a betrayal of everything my mother has done for me”, he explained.
Today, he also says that he has a good relationship with Laurent and describes his new situation in a much simpler way than any noble title: he is happy to finally be able to know his father and have him in his life.
The story even has a curious family precedent. Laurent’s own father, King Albert II, also had to legally recognize a daughter born out of wedlock: Delphine of Saxe-Coburg, who was recognized in 2020 after a long legal battle.
So the former car salesman did not merely discover that he belonged to a royal family.
He discovered that he himself was a prince.