---
title: " Identity and the Status Quo: What It Actually Means to Be Born a Prince"
description: Clément Vandenkerckhove sold cars for a living until a DNA test confirmed what Belgium had whispered about for over two decades. He is now legally a prince. ...
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-08-25T13:33:29.930Z
updated: 2026-08-25T13:35:03.058Z
canonical: https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/identity-and-the-status-quo-what-it-actually-means-to-be-born-a-prince
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/caption - 2026-08-24T012711.148.jpg
categories: Fatherhood
content_type: News
region: Belgium
publication: Rich Dad Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

For twenty five years, Belgium speculated in the way small countries with famous royal families tend to, quietly and persistently, about who had fathered the son of a well known Flemish singer. This year the speculation ended. Clément Vandenkerckhove, 26, a former car salesman, was legally recognised as the son of Prince Laurent, the younger brother of King Philippe, after a DNA test confirmed paternity at 99.5 per cent probability. The formal registration took place at a low key town hall ceremony in February, and stayed largely unreported until Belgian outlets, then the BBC and CNN, picked up the story in August.

The mechanics of the case are, on their own, a fairly ordinary paternity story. Vandenkerckhove's mother, the singer known by her stage name Wendy Van Wanten, had a relationship with Prince Laurent in the 1990s, before his 2003 marriage to Princess Claire. She told her son the truth when he turned sixteen. He reached out to his father around the age of twenty. Laurent, according to Vandenkerckhove's own account to Flemish broadcaster VTM, offered to take the DNA test first, so his son would feel less anxious about the process. What makes the story worth more than a paternity headline is what happened once the science confirmed what everyone already suspected, and how little of it actually changed.

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