Overview
- Belgian media disclosed Saturday that Prince Laurent formally registered his paternity of Clément Vandenkerckhove at a quiet town hall ceremony earlier this year and that the registration was entered in the civil registry.
- A DNA test that both men took previously produced a reported ~99.5% match, and Laurent publicly confirmed the biological relationship in September 2025.
- The civil recognition gives Clément the legal status of Laurent’s son and equal rights to inherit from Laurent’s private estate but does not carry a state allowance, require royal duties, or change the Belgian line of succession.
- Clément, 26, has said he is proud of his maternal surname and indicated he will likely keep Vandenkerckhove rather than adopt the dynastic name Saxe-Coburg.
- The move follows the 2020 Delphine Boël case and highlights a pattern in Belgium of resolving royal paternity through private civil procedures that grant titles or inheritance while leaving public funding and succession rules unchanged.