Prince Laurent of Belgium (Laurent Benoît Baudouin Marie de Saxe-Cobourg; born 19 October 1963) is the second son and youngest child of King Albert II and Queen Paola, and younger brother of King Philippe. Currently, he is 14th in the Belgian line of succession. He had been as high as third in line, but the constitution was amended in 1991 to extend an equal right of succession to women, putting him behind his sister, Princess Astrid, and her descendants.
Laurent's involvement with animal welfare and the environment, together with a relative lack of interest in protocol, has caused him to be dubbed by elements of the popular Belgian press as écolo-gaffeur (the eco-blunderer).
Prince Laurent and Claire Louise Coombs were married in Brussels on 12 April 2003. Coombs was also given the title of Princess of Belgium upon her marriage. The couple have three children, who are fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth line of succession to the throne respectively:
Princess Louise (born 6 February 2004)
Prince Nicolas (born 13 December 2005, twin with Aymeric)
Prince Aymeric (born 13 December 2005, twin with Nicolas)
In December 2006, Prince Laurent's name surfaced in a corruption scandal in which funds of the Belgian Navy were spent on his residence (Villa Clémentine) in Tervuren. Although the investigating magistrates denied that Laurent was personally implicated, some of the accused have implicated the prince in the press.
On 5 January 2007, it became known that King Albert II had signed a royal decree, making it possible for Laurent to be called up as a witness in the corruption trial which was to start 8 January. One of the defendants immediately used this to subpoena the prince.[citation needed] During the evening of 8 January, Prince Laurent was interrogated by federal police, appearing in court the following day where he testified at the trial that he had no reason to believe the funding of his renovations could be illegal.[4]
Media reports in March 2007 suggested that Laurent was no longer welcome at the Royal Palace, possibly due to his role in the corruption scandal.[5]
In March 2011, the prince visited the former Belgian colony of the Congo without receiving the required permission; the reported purpose of the visit was to promote awareness of deforestation. As a result, on 9 April he accepted conditions laid down by Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme regarding his future activities; had he not done so, the matter of his annual appanage would have been in question.[citation needed]
Health
In March 2014, Prince Laurent was hospitalised with pneumonia and depression.[6] He was voluntarily placed in a medically-induced coma on March 25, and was awakened on 27 March.[7] On 4 April, Queen Paola stated in a letter that Laurent's condition was improving, and that she felt he was 'the most vulnerable' of her three children.[8]
Prince Laurent does not hold a personal title as younger princes were previously accustomed to receive in the past (such as Count of Flanders or Prince of Liège).
As a Prince of Belgium and a descendant of King Leopold I, the Prince is entitled to use a coat of arms which was stipulated in the Royal Decree of King Philippe in 2019.[12]
French: L'union fait la force Dutch: Eendracht maakt macht German: Einigkeit macht stark
Other elements
The whole is placed on a mantle purpure with ermine lining, fringes and tassels or and ensigned with the Royal crown of Belgium.
Footnotes
^For almost a hundred years, official documents of the Belgian royal family members indicate "de Belgique/van België" as their surname. In January 2023, La Libre Belgique reported that members of the Belgian royal family were asked to go to the municipal administration to change their identity papers and write "de Saxe-Cobourg/van Saksen-Coburg" as their surname instead of the name "de Belgique/van België".[1] He uses the Dutch version of his surname in his official papers as a resident of Tervuren, a Flemish municipality.[2] He uses the French version of his surname on some papers.[1]
References
^ ab"Les membres de la famille royale belge priés de changer de nom de famille sur leurs documents officiels" [Belgian royals asked to change surnames on official documents]. La Libre Belgique (in French). 6 January 2023. Archived from the original on 30 July 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024. Le prince Laurent par exemple est lui aussi désormais identifié comme Laurent Van Saksen-Coburg sur les documents officiels, ou "Laurent de Saxe-Cobourg, prince de Belgique" sur certains papiers. Son titre - de prince de Belgique - n'est donc plus utilisé comme nom de famille. Il en va de même pour les autres membres de la famille royale qui faisaient usage du patronyme "de Belgique" jusqu'à présent. [Prince Laurent, for example, is now also identified as Laurent Van Saksen-Coburg on official documents, or "Laurent de Saxe-Cobourg, prince de Belgique" on some papers. His title - Prince of Belgium - is therefore no longer used as a surname. The same applies to the other members of the royal family who used the surname "de Belgique" until now.]
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