The Surplus Prince: Prince Laurent’s loves and mental issues in the spotlight
VRT’s Canvas channel aired the third episode of the documentary series on Prince Laurent, King Filip’s younger brother. “Laurent – The Surplus Prince” details the loves and mental challenges of Belgium’s enfant terrible prince.
A princely title has an enormous appeal and that also goes for Prince Laurent. At one point, he was apparently one of the most desirable bachelors in the Brussels beau monde. One love affair- in particular filled the magazines in the mid-1990s.
In 1994, Prince Laurent was given his own villa in Tervuren (Flemish Brabant). He experiences this as a liberation. He is 30 years old and for the first time can enjoy his bachelor life undisturbed. "It was a coming and going of girls. To the extent that Laurent often lost track of their names and made a blunder by addressing them by the wrong first name," royalty expert Jan Van den Berghe tells us.
A year later, the royalty press got wind of Laurent's new sweetheart. In itself not the biggest news, were it not for the fact that Laurent had his eye on commoner Iris Vandenkerckhove, better known as Wendy Van Wanten. "It was a combination of a royal prince and the princess of light music," is how Van den Berghe puts it.
King Albert doesn’t see the joke. "When the relationship became public, it became a big problem. At that time King Albert, Laurent’s father, really yelled at Laurent," says royal expert Mario Danneels. "Wendy was obviously not princess material, but it was a real relationship. They were really in love with each other," Danneels believes.
The documentary then moves on to Prince Laurent when he is struggling with mental problems. His mother Paola goes looking for help and she finds it with Guy Gilbert, a French priest known for getting lost youngsters back on track. Laurent is reluctant, but eventually finds a good friend, a father figure, in Father Gilbert.
"This is someone who could understand Prince Laurent's fate," explains Minister of State Mark Eyskens. "A lad raised in a torn family with a great lack of love. It was a support for Laurent to find someone in Père Gilbert, who dedicated his life to healing wounds that had bled for a long time."
It was also Père Gilbert who blessed the marriage of Prince Laurent and Claire Coombs in 2003. "One day he called me to say he loves a woman," said Guy Gilbert. "'How is that possible after all the women you've already had,' I told him. "But now she’s the one," the prince replied. "Bring her to me," I asked. He did so very quickly and when I saw her, I saw the beauty of her look," Gilbert recalls.