Car salesman, 26, becomes Belgian prince after being recognized as secret son of kings brother

A Belgian car salesman became a prince after Prince Laurent formally acknowledged Clément Vandenkerckhove, 26, as his secret son.Vandenkerckhove was legally recognized by 63-year-old Laurent — the younger brother of King Philippe — as his son and heir at a quiet town hall ceremony about six months ago, with details only now emerging, The Telegraph reported Wednesday.The new prince now has equal inheritance rights to Laurent’s private estate with his half-sister Princess Louise, 20, and half-brothers Prince Nicolas, 20, and Prince Aymeric, 19.But despite Vandenkerckhove’s new title, he won’t receive a royal allowance, take on official duties or gain any rights to the Belgian throne.Vandenkerckhove has not decided whether to take Laurent’s Saxe-Coburg family name.“I might want to do that, but I am proud of the name Vandenkerckhove,” he recently told Het Nieuwsblad.“If I were to sacrifice that family name, it would be a betrayal of everything my mother has done for me.”The royal secret stayed buried for years until Vandenkerckhove appeared in a TV documentary on Belgian network VTM last September and publicly confirmed that Laurent was his biological father.Vandenkerckhove was born in August 2000 to 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 Laurent was his father when he was 16.Four years later, he worked up the nerve to call the prince, and the pair eventually took 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’re feeling at ease,'” Vandenkerckhove told VTM.Laurent later confirmed that Vandenkerckhove was his biological son, saying they had been having “open and honest conversations” privately in recen...