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- Hacker News
- weird people are still treating some like kings/gods in this day and ageby throw21x
- Well, you know, some actually are kings in this day and age.by AnimalMuppet
- I love Hereditary Dentists....by johnbarron
- > Four years after that, he contacted his father to share what he’d been told and Prince Laurent agreed to a DNA test.
“We went to the hospital together and I remember him saying, ‘I’ll go first so you’re feeling at ease,’” Vandenkerckhove told VTM.
Good on the dad for not trying to weasel out on this and stepping up.
by octaane - I'm Belgian, this has been public knowledge since the guy was born. At least it was dealt with a lot more amicably than the other case (Delphine Boël being the child of King (then Prince) Albert II), which was decades of bad lying and denial.by xz18r
- Prince Laurent is likely very happy that his son is a completely normal guy. Illegitimate children of royalty typically end up a bit eccentric.by artisinal
- So he knew when he turned 16 but only got recognized 10 years later. I hope when he was a teenager he got into some friendly brawl and said "Shut up my Dad is the King." and got laughed on and now the other person is seeing the news.by hmokiguess
- His dad is the king's brother, isn't he?by TRiG_Ireland
- But it’s funny because this is a common childhood fantasy. Like maybe as a five year old, you get into a conflict with your parents and you imagine that your dad is actually not really your dad, but is actually some other outstanding member of the community. There was a similar plot point in the Joker (2019) movie too.by layman51
- As TFA pointed out, it's not the first time in the belgian royal family (which has no power btw and they're not anywhere near as rich as, say, the royal british family). A few years ago it was revealed that Delphine Boel was the daughter of the then belgian king.
And contrarily to his son, prince Laurent, who's been classy and accepted immediately the DNA test, the king refused and went to court but lost his case and had to submit to a DNA test. He later on abdicated IIRC.
It's interesting to think of the number of kids from kings and princes that, through the ages, never got recognized because DNA tests didn't exist and they could just deny it, even if the offspring was a near identical copy (in the case of the son of prince Laurent: he looks just like his father).
But yup in Belgium we've got a monarchy and king/queen/princes/princesses (princes and princesses either from the royal family or not), counts/countesses, dukes, many barons, a lot of knights and some esquires (I think we have esquires). And even more "Madame/Monsieur": people from the nobility but without any title.
The title appears on the identity card but that's basically it: it's more of an historical thing than anything else really.
Several of my friends hold such titles: it is not uncommon and it brings you exactly jack fucking shit advantage in life (unless you're really from the royal family).
- It's not just Belgium, Practically every major monarchy has had some kind of controversy that could have easily been resolved through DNA testing, if it existed at the time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretenderby dlcarrier
- Damn! All those Hallmark movies just became documentaries!by grubbs
- So no merit, effort or capability-based gains; instead a straight title, prestige, wealth and inheritance gain through DNA, over which no offspring has any control.by ninjagoo
- Sounds like the definition of monarchy?by terabytest
- I like this complaint about a guy not using his merit, effort, or capability and taking the shortcut of inheritance to become a… princeby jrflowers
- Like the good nepotistic society we areby michaeljx
- His ancestors murdered and stole a whole lot for him to gain that priviledge.by geremiiah
- Wait, you mean there's a place in the world where people with merit, effort, and capability thrive?by afpx
- Yeah, people leave their things to their children. It's been happening for quite some time now. You should look into it.by green_wheel
- ” But he will not receive a royal allowance, nor will he be expected to take on official duties, and he has no rights to the Belgian throne.”
So it seems nothing will change for him.
by vl - He got equal inheritance rights as every person gets from his parents. In this case I see it as "You had a kid, you better take charge of that."
Also:
> But he will not receive a royal allowance, nor will he be expected to take on official duties, and he has no rights to the Belgian throne. Vandenkerckhove could take his father’s family name, Saxe-Coburg, but has indicated he may not choose to.
by tecleandor - Was reading that many European countries have "forced heirship" which means that varying amounts - 50% to 75% is typical - have to be left to spouse/children.
I was representative in the US for my aunt and she and her husband specifically disinherited his two daughters from his first marriage. It was interesting that this was simply not allowed in other countries.
Anyway, time to take his dad mountain climbing, caving, scuba diving, ...
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5d80ec56-4c29...
by jdeibele - The Fresh Prince of Bel...gium.by thomasfl
- Bel-heir ?by dpflan
- Oh, I saw this one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ralphby acheron