BELGIAN CAR SALESMAN BECOMES A PRINCE! DNA test confirms he is the illegitimate son of the king’s brother (VIDEO)

Belgian car salesman Clement Vandenkerkhove became a prince at the age of 26 after a DNA test confirmed that he is the son of Prince Laurent, the younger brother of Belgian King Philippe.

Vandenkerkhove’s mother, Belgian singer Wendy Van Wanten, told him that Laurent was his father when he was 16, CNN reported.

She and Prince Laurent were in a relationship during the 1990s after they met by chance at a fashion show in Paris.

As reported this week, Laurent legally recognized Vandenkerkhove as his son and heir to his private estate about six months ago, at a modest ceremony at the city hall, after a DNA test confirmed their relationship.

Laurent registered the paternity in the Belgian civil registry, the British newspaper Telegraph reported.

By recognizing his paternity, Vandenkerkhove gained the same inheritance rights to Laurent’s private estate as his half-sister, Princess Louise (20), and half-brothers, Princes Nicolas (20) and Aymeric (19), whom Laurent has with his wife, Princess Claire.

However, Vandenkerkhove will not receive a royal allowance, will have no official duties and has no right to the Belgian throne.

He could take his father’s surname, Saxe-Coburg, but has indicated that he may not do so.

“I am proud of the surname Vandenkerkhove. If I were to sacrifice that family name, it would be a betrayal of everything my mother has done for me,” he recently told the Flemish daily Het Nieuwsblad.

Vandenkerkhove was born in August 2000 as the son of singer Wendy Van Wanten, whose real name is Iris Vandenkerkhove.

In a documentary broadcast last September on Belgian television channel VTM, Vandenkerkhove said that his mother had revealed the identity of his father to him. Four years later, he contacted Prince Laurent and told him what his mother had said, after which Laurent agreed to a DNA test.

After paternity was confirmed, Vandenkerkhove said that he and his father had had “open and honest conversations.”

This is not the first case of a child born out of wedlock being recognized in the Belgian royal family.

Laurent’s father, the former king, fought for years over the determination of paternity before admitting in 2020 that he had fathered a daughter during an affair.

Delphine Boël (58) ultimately won the legal battle and received the title of princess, and now uses the name Delphine de Saxe-Cobourg.