Belgian car salesman becomes prince after royal parentage confirmed

Belgium's Prince Laurent has legally recognised 26-year-old former car salesman Clément Vandenkerckhove as his son and heir.

Vandenkerckhove, the result of a relationship between the royal and Belgian singer Wendy Van Wanten, was quietly brought into Prince Laurent's family at a town hall ceremony six months ago, although details have only just emerged.

While he formally becomes a prince, he will not receive a royal allowance.

The new prince has had several years to get used to the idea of having a royal father, and he said recently he was not yet sure he would begin using his father's name Saxe-Coburg.

"I might want to do that, but I am proud of the name Vandenkerckhove," he told Het Nieuwsblad.

"If I were to sacrifice that family name, it would be a betrayal of everything my mother has done for me."

He will not be part of Belgium's royal line of succession, unlike his half-sister Princess Louise and half-brothers Prince Aymeric and Prince Nicolas. Nor will he take part in public royal activities.

Vandenkerckhove is already well known to Belgians, having been the focus of a Flemish TV documentary last September, in which he described how he got to know his father.