Prince Laurent in Hospital; March 2014


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I really hope he gets well soon, if he is hospitalized it must be serious.
 
Somehow I am not surprised by this development - Prince Laurent seems stressed and snappy with people such as when his car was late recently. Anxiety, depression, stress - could be all or none if these, but I do hope he recovers and feels well again soon.
 
Wishing HRH a speedy & peaceful recovery!
 
Somehow I am not surprised by this development - Prince Laurent seems stressed and snappy with people such as when his car was late recently. Anxiety, depression, stress - could be all or none if these, but I do hope he recovers and feels well again soon.


I agree. I have felt for awhile that he was a ticking time bomb.He seems to have had deep rooted emotional problems his entire life. For awhile I believed his marriage to Claire Coombs had succeeded in chasing away Laurent's demons...but unfortunately that is not the case.:sad:

It would not surprise me in the least if his "exhaustion" is in fact a nervous breakdown.

For his sake and especially for the sake of his young children I hope he will be okay.
 
Apparently the prince was already hospitalized in 1999 for exhaustion and at the time he received a sleeping treatment (slaapkuur). So perhaps it is just that again, though there are unconfirmed stories that he suffered from depressions earlier in the nineties. But his outburst after the commemoration of the dead members of the royal family, only a few weeks ago, show that he may be suffering from his nerves indeed. Anyway, let's hope that he will recover soon.
 
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I think Laurent got the short end of the stick when his parents' marriage went sour, because Baudouin and Fabiola got closer to Philippe and Astrid but I have the feeling that he was kind of left behind by everyone and living under the spotlight knowing that his parents would rather spend time with their lovers than with him must have been awful.

Hopefully he will make a speedy recovery from this but mental issues are never something that can be considered completely cured, he will have to battle his demons every single day of his life, thankfully he now has Claire and the kids to help with him, that has got to be enough.
 
He is born with week nerves and is lucky to have the strong Princess Claire as wife!
 
I think Laurent got the short end of the stick when his parents' marriage went sour, because Baudouin and Fabiola got closer to Philippe and Astrid but I have the feeling that he was kind of left behind by everyone and living under the spotlight knowing that his parents would rather spend time with their lovers than with him must have been awful.

Hopefully he will make a speedy recovery from this but mental issues are never something that can be considered completely cured, he will have to battle his demons every single day of his life, thankfully he now has Claire and the kids to help with him, that has got to be enough.


I have read that Baudouin and Fabiola reached out to Laurent when he was having a hard time at home, and invited him to come live with them at Laeken. But he behaved in a way that was disrespectful and was eventually asked to leave.

He was also said to have been a "difficult" child, but I agree with you that he was more than likely outing out because of the extremely dysfunctional family dynamic.

All three of Albert's and Paola's children appear to have made very good marriages with loving, supportive spouses. That in itself is an accomplishment coming from the type of home background that they did.
 
Newspaper 'Het Nieuwsblad' listed this years incidents with Laurent. SOme of them a bit far fetched IMO. But all together it shows that the prince is not himself:

https://twitter.com/WDehandschutter/status/447319591069294592

- 21 January: Autosalon, Brussels, prince was in a bad mood and left after 15 minutes.
- 26 January: Lego-expo, Brussels, leaves wife and children home for a perfect family outing and parks his car on the pavement.
- 29 January: New Years reception at the Royal Palace, Brussels: long absence of Princess Claire leads to media speculation.
- 1 February: Walloon film awards, Laurent enters the festival through the back door after denying marital problems.
- 8 February: MIA's, Vilvoorde. He shows up unexpectedly at the award ceremony and drags a woman on stage with him.
- 10 February: Film festival, Brussels. He comes alone and doesn't want anybody else to sit with him in the royal box.
- 11 February: Inauguration of a renovated House in Molenbeek, Princess Claire is in public for the first time in 8 weeks, Laurent seems shows that he is not interested.
- 16 February: Engagement of prince Amedeo, Laurent arrives late and is not included in the family photo.
- 18 February: Mass in Laeken, the prince gets angry as the car of the king is blocking his own car and he can not leave.
- 25 February: Batibouw, Brussels, walks around with a sombre face for 45 minutes, he can only smile while meeting Freya van den Bossche.
- 5 March: Live Broadcast of the Oscars in Ghent. He follows the broadcast for an hour in silence and with a sombre face.
- 15 March: Laurent cancels his attendance, the official reason is that he has a cold.

--
Newspaper 'De Standaard' speculates that the prince may have a burn-out.
Prins Laurent heeft wellicht burn-out - De Standaard
 
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According to rtl the prince has been moved to the intensive care.
 
According to rtl the prince has been moved to the intensive care.

Being moved to intensive care sounds ominous. Either he is medically ill with something dangerous or he has tried to cause himself harm and is being kept under 24 hour guard. Either way, it doesn't sound good.

Depression is never cured, only controlled. Perhaps he should be permanently removed from the spotlight of being royal and allowed to live his life in privacy.
 
Being moved to intensive care sounds ominous. Either he is medically ill with something dangerous or he has tried to cause himself harm and is being kept under 24 hour guard. Either way, it doesn't sound good.

Depression is never cured, only controlled. Perhaps he should be permanently removed from the spotlight of being royal and allowed to live his life in privacy.

Read earlier post - he has pneumonia! Where did "cause himself harm" spring from?

If he has breathing difficulties then they would do this.
 
I really hope we get reassuring news soon !
 
Intensive Care is not something doctors do just because, his pneumonia is probably getting complicated or something :(
I really hope he gets well soon.
 
Pneumonia is serious enough, but in someone who is overweight and a smoker it's even more troubling.:sad:

I really feel for Laurent's children. Even if he isn't the most popular member of the BRF they seem to be very close and connected with their father. I hope everything will turn out well.
 
A palace spokesman can not confirm the news. Pierre-Emmanuel De Bauw says that the only thing he can say is that the princ eis still in the hospital and that it is a private matter of the family.

Prins Laurent op intensieve - Het Nieuwsblad
 
Prince Laurent put in articifial coma, it has been confirmed by the Belgian Court. It's for making treating his Pneumonia easier. "Not alarming" says palace.

RTL info

Personally I've never heard of such a thing before...I hope he'll recover soon
 
Yes I really hope he will get well soon.... such a young and lovely family !!!
The King and the Queen have visited him already
 
I wish him a speedy recovery and a soon return to his family.
 
Prince Laurent put in articifial coma, it has been confirmed by the Belgian Court. It's for making treating his Pneumonia easier. "Not alarming" says palace.

Personally I've never heard of such a thing before...I hope he'll recover soon

I've never heard of this either and I once spent two weeks in the hospital with pneumonia.

HELLO! magazine reports the following:

"An artificial coma would avoid the patient exhausting themselves by fighting against the life-support system," reported Belgian television channel RTL.

"Prince Laurent was voluntarily placed in a coma to give the antibiotics time to act against his pneumonia. This could last up to 48 hours."

Prince Laurent of Belgium placed in artificial coma to fight pneumonia - hellomagazine.com

It has also been reported that King Albert II and Queen Paola are "abroad" but are in constant contact with Claire.
 
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A friend's daughter was in artificial coma for a very severe lung infection. She exhausted herself when she was conscious. The artifical coma led her to an recovery.
 
First a depression, then a pneumonia and now he needs an artificial coma to get better, I really hope he comes out of this

BTW, it is known that Philippe came to see his brother and that Mathilde is coming as well, where are Albert and Paola? that is their son sick!
 
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They are abroad (no details) but they are very much in contact with Princess Claire.
 
I too know people who have been put in artificial coma to help them recover and both of them got well soon thereafter. It gives the body time to rest. I wish Prince Laurent a speedy recovery and send a thought to Princess Claire and the children, this undoubtedly must be unsettling for them.
 
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