Duke of Parma Did Want To Be In Touch With His Son After All

The Duke of Parma, eldest son of Princess Irene of The Netherlands, will soon face his own son in court. The son, Carlos Hugo Klynstra (born in 1997), went to court to ask for a name change: he wants his father’s last name and title.

Dutch Royalty magazine ‘Royalty’ made a reconstruction of the situation and came to some remarkable conclusions. Up to now it was generally assumed that Duke Carlos abandoned his pregnant ex-girlfriend Birgitte Klynstra, who had to take care of their son on her own. This impression was not helped by the only cold statement Carlos ever made about the matter in 1997, which said that it was ‘an independant decision of Ms. Klynstra to want to become a mother’.

‘Royalty’ found out that the truth is rather different -as often is the case. It now seems that Carlos did want to be involved in his son’s life from the start but that he was stopped by Ms Klynstra who wanted to raise her son alone. royalblog.nl speculates that Klynstra perhaps wanted to bully Carlos into marrying her. Carlos also did recognise his son’s paternity from the start.

Birgitte Klynstra, her son and the story of how they had been abandonned became an item in the press in the late nineties/ early 2000s. Carlos Hugo was named for his paternal grandfather, he was the first great-grandchild of Queen Juliana and he was also the spitting image of his father. It helped that Klynstra went on winter vacation to Lech at exactly the same time that the royal family -and Dutch press- were in the ski resort.

Despite not being allowed to see his son, Carlos has always paid child support. Only a few years ago there were a few meetings between father and son. Soon the two will be facing each other in court. The duke cites ‘dynastic reasons’why he can not accept the name change of his son; thehouse laws of the House of Bourbon-Parma simply do not allow the distribution of a title to a child born outside a marriage.

It is however expected that the duke won’t stand a chance in court. In 1994 the Dutch law about nobility has been changed. It now says that children born outside of a marriage can get titles. The outcome of a court case can only be that Carlos Hugo Klynstra, who prefers to be known as ‘Hugo’, will be incorporated into the Dutch nobility with the title Prince de Bourbon de Parme.

The Duke of Parma married Dutch journalist Annemarie Gualthérie van Weezel in 2010. Together they have two daughters, Princess Luisa and Princess Cecilia.

The duke and duchess of Parma with their two daughters

Filed under Italy, The Netherlands
Tagged House of Bourbon-Parma, The Duke of Parma.