Prince Joachim of Belgium - News and Pictures, Part 1

[Tatiana Maria]

and given their discrete use of their titles, there is no reason to strip them off them (in which case they would revert back to using their Austrian titles)

I fully agree that discretion is the best possible way for non-working royals to handle being titled.

A minor clarification : The royal court did not refer to Amedeo and Maria Laura by their paternal family's pretended Austrian titles before they were created Prince and Princess of Belgium.

They received the titles at a time when there were no other grandchildren... It seems king Baudouin mainly wanted to be sure that if Philippe didn't end up having children, the crown wouldn't go to Laurent but to Astrid (and her descendants).

For King Baudouin and the Government, the publicly known reason for reforming the succession to the crown in 1991 was that they wanted to end the sex discrimination. See the information here:

Belgian Abdication, Succession and Constitutional Issues

Prince Laurent has indeed stated he believes King Baudouin's real motive was to ensure the crown would never reach Laurent, and there are royal experts who share his opinion. But the accusation is unproven and King Albert II has denied it.

The dotation is reserved for a very small number of family members. Currently, the king's siblings do receive a dotation but the future queen's siblings do and will not. So, it is even further curtailed.

That's exactly right. For anyone interested, here is the royal court's simple explanation of the current legislation (since 2014) dictating who in the Royal Family can and cannot receive taxpayer funds:

https://www.monarchie.be/en/information/contact

I don't think Philippe wants his nephews and nieces to be more involved -

I second this. I am afraid I haven't saved the reports, but I remember media reports on several occasions (discussed here on TRF at least once) which alleged that Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent were hurt and upset as they had been sidelined by King Philippe and he did not acknowledge (e.g. in official reports) all of their work events. The reports were not denied, if I recall, and they were consistent with the low profile that King Philippe has assigned to his siblings (Astrid is less prominent on the court's website and its social media compared to Gabriel, for example).

With Philippe's seeming reluctance to allow Astrid a prominent role, I cannot imagine him permitting her children to take on working royal duties. (And, as you said, there is no public demand for having so many working royals.)

Please remain in Belgium.

What do you mean by that?

 

[coninja]

Please remain in Belgium.
Princess Astrid always wanted privacy for her Children.
They studied abroad and are living abroad.
Prince Lorenz is working in Banks and provided work to his Sons.
Prince Joachim did a big mistake during Covid , he asked to go to Spain for work but it was a for a party with many guests. He paid 5000 euros !
They don't receive funds from we taxpayers and have not royal duties.
Amen

Why do you think Princess Astrid wants this for her children ? They are royals, they have protection so it is strange for them to live somewhere other than Belgium.
Prince Lorenz helping his sons with their careers is good, and they are lucky to have that opportunity.
Prince Joachim's COVID scandal is strange- what did he do? There was a lot of speculation at the time but nothing was said about it afterwards.
It is hard to believe that Princess Astrid, Prince Lorenz and their children do not receive tax payer funds, when it is said that Prince Laurent does. There is a reason why they do not have royal duties, but they won't tell the public.

 

[coninja]

I fully agree that discretion is the best possible way for non-working royals to handle being titled.

A minor clarification : The royal court did not refer to Amedeo and Maria Laura by their paternal family's pretended Austrian titles before they were created Prince and Princess of Belgium.




For King Baudouin and the Government, the publicly known reason for reforming the succession to the crown in 1991 was that they wanted to end the sex discrimination. See the information here:

Belgian Abdication, Succession and Constitutional Issues

Prince Laurent has indeed stated he believes King Baudouin's real motive was to ensure the crown would never reach Laurent, and there are royal experts who share his opinion. But the accusation is unproven and King Albert II has denied it.




That's exactly right. For anyone interested, here is the royal court's simple explanation of the current legislation (since 2014) dictating who in the Royal Family can and cannot receive taxpayer funds:

https://www.monarchie.be/en/information/contact




I second this. I am afraid I haven't saved the reports, but I remember media reports on several occasions (discussed here on TRF at least once) which alleged that Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent were hurt and upset as they had been sidelined by King Philippe and he did not acknowledge (e.g. in official reports) all of their work events. The reports were not denied, if I recall, and they were consistent with the low profile that King Philippe has assigned to his siblings (Astrid is less prominent on the court's website and its social media compared to Gabriel, for example).

With Philippe's seeming reluctance to allow Astrid a prominent role, I cannot imagine him permitting her children to take on working royal duties. (And, as you said, there is no public demand for having so many working royals.)




What do you mean by that?

Their Austrian titles are fake? I don't see how that is "pretended" but I agree with you that they have a right to be out of the spotlight even though they have titles.
That is good that the sex discrimination was ended in 1991, a lot of major changes in the world was made that year.

It is not shocking that Astrid and Laurent are upset about being sidelined. They are royals too, and should be given opportunities to represent the Belgian monarchy on a more official level as well as their children. Most of the monarchies around the world do not sideline blood royals.
Do you think this is what King Phillipe wants, or is there a different reason ?

Prince Mateen of Brunei just married, and it was stated that he will be given a counselor of state role. Mateen is not heir to the throne. Why doesn't the Belgian monarchy give the king's siblings and their children similar roles that help represent the monarchy ? Can they be at least ambassadors of Belgium ? Denying blood royals opportunities to elevate the monarchy seems counterproductive.

 

[Blog Real]

I saw on Linkedin that Joachim works at the company Innesto Partner in Brussels, Belgium.

 

[Somebody]

Why do you think Princess Astrid wants this for her children ? They are royals, they have protection so it is strange for them to live somewhere other than Belgium.
Prince Lorenz helping his sons with their careers is good, and they are lucky to have that opportunity.
Prince Joachim's COVID scandal is strange- what did he do? There was a lot of speculation at the time but nothing was said about it afterwards.
It is hard to believe that Princess Astrid, Prince Lorenz and their children do not receive tax payer funds, when it is said that Prince Laurent does. There is a reason why they do not have royal duties, but they won't tell the public.

Astrid does receive a rotation, just like her brother. Only in between the children being included in the line of succession and the birth of princess Elisabeth was there a real chance of Amedeo becoming king in the future and thus occupying a royal role. Once Philippe was married and had Elisabeth (and Gabriel) it was clear there would not be a royal role for him nor his siblings. In general, European royal families do not include cousins or nephews and nieces in a public royal role - especially for the younger generations. They might be included in some larger family events but that’s about it. Even siblings are more and more sidelined.

I don’t see what else needed to be said about Joachim’s unfortunate Covid violation.

Their Austrian titles are fake? I don't see how that is "pretended" but I agree with you that they have a right to be out of the spotlight even though they have titles.
That is good that the sex discrimination was ended in 1991, a lot of major changes in the world was made that year.

It is not shocking that Astrid and Laurent are upset about being sidelined. They are royals too, and should be given opportunities to represent the Belgian monarchy on a more official level as well as their children. Most of the monarchies around the world do not sideline blood royals.
Do you think this is what King Phillipe wants, or is there a different reason ?

Prince Mateen of Brunei just married, and it was stated that he will be given a counselor of state role. Mateen is not heir to the throne. Why doesn't the Belgian monarchy give the king's siblings and their children similar roles that help represent the monarchy ? Can they be at least ambassadors of Belgium ? Denying blood royals opportunities to elevate the monarchy seems counterproductive.

Making royals ambassadors (or governor generals) is a relic from the past. In the exceptional case a royal is given that role it is based on their own merit (prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme comes to mind).

As stated above, the general trend in Europe is to reduce the number of family members working full-time for the monarchy. There is limited appetite for siblings let alone cousins or nieces and nephews such as Joachim and his siblings. What would 8 additional royals (5 children by Astrid and 3 by Laurent) and their (future) spouses need to do on a daily basis? In addition to Elisabeth’s 3 siblings (and future spouses). And who would want to pay for that? It would amount to about 1 royal per 400.000 Belgians (30 active royals for close to 12 million inhabitants).

 

[Linda_26]

I saw on Linkedin that Joachim works at the company Innesto Partner in Brussels, Belgium.

It seems he moved back to Belgium indeed. He is the managing partner of Innesto Partners (and also the founder of the company):

Joachim de Belgique

He goes by "de Belgique" in his professional life, like all his sibilings

 

[Marengo]

It must be a start-up?
They were founded in september 2023, as per an announcement in the Staatsblad.
I can not find an office though the company is registered in Uccle, Brussels, in what seems to be an unremarkable apartment building from the 1980s.

 

[An Ard Ri]

The Prince is very like his father!

 

[Stefan]

The Prince is very like his father!

Only that he has blonde hair etc.