Bursts of laughter. Placed in an incubator, the twins will however have to wait to discover their room in the Villa Clémentine in Tervuren, made available to their father by the Royal Donation since the 1990s. Laurent and Claire will closely follow their education, which will perhaps lead to be the Princess to give up her surveying activities. The Prince will assist him, “even if it will significantly lengthen (his) days”. Asked about the number of children he would like (his daughter Louise is his eldest), Laurent explains that he plans “stop at two, because I don’t like the number 3. Often, numbers 3 have no place in society, as psychological studies have shown. I’m not talking about myself but, in In any case, our twins will both be number 2s.” As for godparents, “these will be people who will enlighten our children and help them to respect all languages, cultures, races and colors. By that, mean that they will also give them a very globalist education, in the good sense of this termme.” A profession of humanist faith and confidence in the future. “We’ll find enough friends to support us.” Which ones? The question is not resolved “but it could be a minister, a Chinese, whatever else… Don’t count on me to give you any names, because I was asked not to mention any!” They will ultimately be Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg and the Duke of Castro. As for the order of succession to the throne, that is really not the happy father’s concern: “It would take a famous virus that would decimate almost the entire family for the issue to come up on the agenda!” Nicolas and Aymeric (born one minute after his brother) are actually ranked sixteenth and seventeenth in the order of succession. Everyone smiles. Even Laurent. True to his rebellious reputation, the Prince will only show his twins to the public during the traditional 2006 Christmas concert. There are personal wounds that take time to heal.
End of flashback. Since then, the predictions have been verified: Claire had to give up her job as a surveyor and Laurent is scrambling in every direction to ensure that his trajectory is respected. And its principles. As for the twins, they have become rare. As children, they several times accompanied their parents to unofficial meetings, such as those at the Prince’s animal foundation. We also saw them at family reunions like Paola’s 70th birthday. They attended the Lycée français Jean Monnet in Uccle and obtained their baccalaureate. In the summer of 2023, in an extremely rare occurrence, they accompanied the former Queen to Marcinelle for the commemoration of the Bois du Cazier tragedy. That’s when we could see how much they had changed. And why they appeal favorably. Prince Nicolas is the more discreet of the two, very studious with his little glasses. He is promised a bright professional future. Aymeric is more talkative. Prince Laurent does not hesitate to talk about them, as if to defend them. How he would once have liked to be defended? “If Aymeric celebrates“, he said, “Nicolas, not at all. Talk to him about parties and he runs away. Give him a screen and he’s happy. What’s more, he pursues his passion for bodybuilding. You should see him today: it’s become a mirror cabinet. He’s 15 cm taller and a third wider than me!
Queen Mathilde in festive attire for a New Year’s reception at Laeken Castle
For his part, a true don Juan, lover of beautiful cars, Aymeric is making the most of his youth. His Instagram profile bears witness to this. His photos, last summer, in the south of France, suddenly threw him into the light. With key attacks, even if Gotha is crazy about this “young prince as handsome as a god”. “Aymeric found a student job as a waiter in a restaurant in Saint-Tropez”explains Laurent again. “He likes to go out and wanted to do it on vacation. I told him, ‘If you want to party, you have to work first.’ Anyone who wants to spend money needs to know the value of it, and I told him that. made clear.” But the coin has its other side. Since the start of the school year, Nicolas and Aymeric have been studying at the non-commissioned officer school of the Royal Military Academy in Saint-Trond. Laurent, who experienced many problems in his youth, wanted a good educational reference for his sons. Unfortunately, Aymeric’s time on the Saffraanberg campus only lasted two months: at the end of October, he ended his training in social and military sciences. If, for Nicolas, everything goes well in the polytechnic course he has chosen, Aymeric encounters difficulties in mathematics. Laurent remembers his complicated schooling. “We have seen that Aymeric is suffering from difficulties […] He’s not incompetent, he just has problems in two areas: geometry and trigonometry.” The Prince also specifies that his youngest did not follow a preparatory year before joining the non-commissioned officer school, that he went from five hours of maths per week in secondary school to thirteen hours each week. “Saffraanberg is a very demanding school.” King Philippe’s brother wants to put an end to rumors claiming that his younger brother is having trouble coping with the military regime at his new school or even the distance from his girlfriend. Like him before. “It’s just about his math difficulties. We don’t want him to be demotivated. He’s not yet, but he would have been if he’d stayed there.” According to him, his son also liked Saffraanberg.
“It’s not easy to be the son of a prince, even less so when he has a reputation as a rebel and has not only made friends. You never prepare yourself to be at the heart of the media cyclone“, intervenes an observer of monarchies. Good reflection. With the related question: can the children of Claire and Laurent escape their destiny? In other words, will they one day be able to live in anonymity and lead the life they want? Freed from their obligations (following the endowment reform in 2013, they will not receive any and will have no official role), they will have to work And their roots will not allow them. no deviation. “They are perhaps the link between two worlds: that of the past, where the children of kings were paid for their representational work, and that of tomorrow, where privileges will be rarer. It will not be simple.” The eldest of Claire and Laurent, Princess Louise (born February 6, 2004, she will be 21 years old), shows the way forward: without arousing the interest of the media, she studies liberal arts in Maastricht. She would have even been a saleswoman at Scapa in Antwerp!
However, it’s difficult to forget who his father is and the portrayal of him in the media. Laurent (who receives an annual grant of 388,000 euros) is currently waging a frantic fight in front of the labor court to gain access to social security. A case which has largely crossed borders. Not always in a good way. Le Monde writes: “A prince, Laurent de Saxe-Cobourg, in conflict with the Belgian state while his brother, King Philippe, is its leader: the case that will have to be decided by the magistrates of the Brussels labor court is not trivial. At the age of 61, the prince denounces the fact that he and his family are denied social security. Affirming that he would be a worker like any other, he intends to obtain the. reimbursement for his care and a retirement pension On Monday, November 25, the court held a first hearing and announced that it would give itself time to think: the turbulent child of the Belgian dynasty will not know until April 2025 if he will obtain his pension. cause.” There are adjectives that stick to the skin and legacies that are heavy to carry.
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