Prince Laurent and Princess Claire: News and Pictures, Part 3

[jm83au]

Well if Laurent andf Claire are struggling money wise then surely Astrid and her family must be struggling too as they have 5 children. Or does Lorenz make some money. does he have a high up job or what? how much does astrid get?

[Marie-Caroline]

The more I read about it, the more I think this story is nonsense ("cucumber time"?)
And the comparison with the dutch princes who do not receive a dotation and do real jobs I am not sure about either. Would Laurent be able to do a real full time job without dotation from the government? I have doubts. Where would he have to work: the Flanders? Wallonia or Brussels? For a private company or in the public sector? Either way the press or the Belgians would always criticise e.g. by saying he got the job because he is the son of, or they had to find him a job because he is the son of and not in his own right. I may obviously be wrong but this is my feeling about it.

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

I think this is some "cucumber time" story as well...Laurent never made any remark, but all of a sudden the press just comes up with this ... They're always on his back. Last time it was that he and Claire were getting divorced, instead they had twins ... It just never makes sense what they write about him.

[johann]

Laurent passed a statement today while being on vacation in France. He denied he has financial problems and declared that the story is pure invention. And he emphasises that he spends his money carefully like every good 'huisvader' (=head of the household) does. http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Deta...MF28072006_006 for further information.

I agree with Marie-Caroline that the comparison with the Prince Friso and Prince Constantijn fizzles out. The government of The Netherlands decided that the dotation should be reserved to the King/Queen and the Prince of Orange plus their spouses while the Belgians run another path and pay dotation to all marital children of King Albert. That’s their legitimate decision and it’s unfair to call it "strange" (post #178) just because their Dutch counterparts don’t receive a dotation.

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Princess Claire and prince Laurent with Fabienne Vastapane at the charity gala "la vie en rose", Sept. 2004 (Eventail)

[purple_platinum]

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The new thread for Laurent & Claire can be found here