Prince Laurent and Princess Claire: News and Pictures, Part 3; June 2005 - Aug. 2006

[Princess Robijn]

is there a picture??

 

[Lila Rose]

Princess Claire was also present on this event.

This week there was also a gala dinner for the 10th anniversary for the prince Laurent foundation.

Priest Guy Gilbert was one of the persons present, like princess Léa and Edouard Vermeulen (of course ).

Princess Claire wore a long red dress by Natan.

I have seen pictures of the galadress , is was sooo beautiful !

 

[Royal Fan]

where Are their 2 sons (thought We would have pics by now)

 

[crisiñaki]

I have seen pictures of the galadress , is was sooo beautiful !

Can you post them please?

 

[Sancia]

where Are their 2 sons (thought We would have pics by now)

I don't know for the others, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but it's boring to me to read this kind of comments. Please, don't you think that we will know when there will be pics? The rest is mere speculation and I'm sure the parents have good reasons for not releasing photos.

 

[Lila Rose]

Can you post them please?

I wish I could , crisinaki ! But I can't ...
I saw Claire only on TV

But it's strange that there are no other picture of them ...

 

[alejandro_sk]

This is just too cute...

Prince Laurent drove himself in a Smart car to the new house of renewable energies

(photos from sipa press via fotobank)

Wow! Was he able to get out of that car on his own?
Thanks for the pics! I wish I had one of those cars here!!!
Alejandro

 

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

from point de vue

The 10th anniversary of the prince Laurent foundation was celebrated in the theatre of the Plaza hotel in Brussels (belonging to the van Gysel de Meise family).

1. baroness van Gysel de Meise, prince Laurent and princess Claire
2. Léa Wolman (wife of prince Alexandre of Belgium) and François de Radiguès de Chennevière
3. The prince and princess Charles-Louis d'Arenberg
4. baron Axel de Sambucy de Sorgue (son of princess Chantal of France)
5. Myriam Lafon with Eduard Vermeulen, designer of Natan.
6. Laurent's good friend priest Guy Gilbert (who married him & Claire, and baptized Louise)
7. Prince Jaime de Bourbon-Parma (son of princess Irene of Holland) and Rita Boustany
8. Count Thierry de Limburg Stirum (son of princess Hélène of France) and his wife countess Katia della Faille de Leverghem

 

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

1. count and countess Louis de Limburg Stirum
2. Baroness Aurore van Gysel de Meise and her husband
3. Count and countess Philippe de Montmort

 

[Emily]

What a beautiful photo of Claire! Can someone tell me about the jacket Laurent has on? Is this a "smoking jacket"? It looks medieval!

....and I submitted the message without saying "thanks" to Catherine!

 

[Katrianna]

Claire looks beautiful in that dress. She always looks great in red.

 

[fanletizia]

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: Belgium's Prince Laurent attends the press award gala of JAM (Journailsts Copyright Association), Friday 12 May 2006 in Brussels

from belga

 

[grevinnan]

P Laurent looks great. He looks slimmer and quite handsome.

 

[crisiñaki]

Yes, he has lost weight since we last saw him

 

[martha-louise]

Yes! It's is very remarkable that he has lost some weight. I'm very happy to see that. Indeed he looks younger and more handsome.
Let's hope he can keep the weight, so that his daughter and sons can enjoy there father for a very long time.
In 'Place Royal' he was filmed on another occasion, IMO he was stylish and relaxed.

 

[purple_platinum]

20060523 - LIER, BELGIUM
Belgian Prince Laurent holds a yellow object, Tuesday 23 May 2006, during a visit to Vosschemie Polyester De Moor in Lier.

from BELGA PHOTO / HERWIG VERGULT

 

[alejandro_sk]

Hi everybody!
Is Laurent left-handed? If not (and I think he isn't) any idea why he wears his watch on his right wrist?
Thank you!
Alejandro

 

[Hannelore]

Prince Laurent baptised a new flower named "Claire", in the name of his wife Princess Claire, Sunday 28 May 2006 in Wetteren.

belga

 

[crisiñaki]

Hi everybody!
Is Laurent left-handed? If not (and I think he isn't) any idea why he wears his watch on his right wrist?
Thank you!
Alejandro

I don't know if he's right or left handed but I've seen other royals like Prince Felipe and King Juan Carlos who wear the watch on their right wrists even if they are both right-handed; so maybe it's a royal tradition?

 

[fanletizia]

Prince Laurent visits the Environment Feasts at the Brussels Cinquentenaire - Jubelpark, Sunday 04 June 2006

from belga

 

[PreDoc]

It seems he has suddenly put on quite a bit of weight, is he ok

 

[pandora]

It seems he has suddenly put on quite a bit of weight, is he ok

he was always a bit on the heavy sight. Apparently, he enjoys good food. Why not!

 

[johann]

Prince Laurent attended the feast of the Belgian Royal Navy (Marine) on the occasion of the 175 years of Royal Navy and 60 years of Naval Forces, Friday 07 July 2006, in Oostende. (Belga)
Laurent holds the rank of Captain of the Belgian Navy since 2004. He was Naval Trainee on board of several frigates and mine hunters during his military education.

 

[johann]

…and the last ones. Without any further comment on the sum of money he demands this time round ;-) (belga)

 

[Cmd]

"Le prince Laurent, qui bénéficie d'une dotation annuelle de 295.000 euros, a du mal à noueur les deux bouts. Son conseiller financier lui en aurait fait la remarque. Il lui aurait dit qu'il dépensait trop.

Le couple princier bénéficie pour le moment d'une aide temporaire et la princesse Claire puiserait dans ses économies. Le prince aimerait engager une nurse à temps plein pour ses deux jumeaux. Mais il ne peut pas financièrement, ajoutent les journaux. Le couple, qui dispose de la Villa Clémentine prêtée par l'Etat belge, s'y sent à l'étroit avec ses trois enfants. Mais acheter une maison coûterait trop cher. " Article from www.7sur7.be

Basically the article says they are spending above their budgets. Apparently they can't afford to purchase a house. Even with 3 kids, Claire income, I don't think they should have ANY problems taking into account the monthly 24 583 EUR they receive from the State !

Welcome to the REAL world !!!

 

[princess olga]

"Le prince Laurent, qui bénéficie d'une dotation annuelle de 295.000 euros, a du mal à noueur les deux bouts. Son conseiller financier lui en aurait fait la remarque. Il lui aurait dit qu'il dépensait trop.

Le couple princier bénéficie pour le moment d'une aide temporaire et la princesse Claire puiserait dans ses économies. Le prince aimerait engager une nurse à temps plein pour ses deux jumeaux. Mais il ne peut pas financièrement, ajoutent les journaux. Le couple, qui dispose de la Villa Clémentine prêtée par l'Etat belge, s'y sent à l'étroit avec ses trois enfants. Mais acheter une maison coûterait trop cher. " Article from www.7sur7.be

Basically the article says they are spending above their budgets. Apparently they can't afford to purchase a house. Even with 3 kids, Claire income, I don't think they should have ANY problems taking into account the monthly 24 583 EUR they receive from the State !

Welcome to the REAL world !!!

What, they get nearly 300,000 Euros annually and they can't purchase a house? If they can't , then the entire nation of Belgians surely can't either.

By the way, I didn't think Claire worked?

 

[Marie-Caroline]

Laurent's dotation

Do not forget the 300,000 euros per year is not only Laurent's 'salary' but with this dotation he has to run his office and cover all his professional expenses: all his staff etc. If you take all this into account I do honestly not think this is an awful lot of money. But I am sure the belgian, and perhaps even more so the flemish press, will enjoy to criticise once again.... (I am flemish myself)

 

[Henri M.]

Do not forget the 300,000 euros per year is not only Laurent's 'salary' but with this dotation he has to run his office and cover all his professional expenses: all his staff etc. If you take all this into account I do honestly not think this is an awful lot of money. But I am sure the belgian, and perhaps even more so the flemish press, will enjoy to criticise once again.... (I am flemish myself)

The Dotation of € 300.000,-- ($ 375,000.--) indeed is not 'income'. The Prince has to pay his expenses like staff, transport, offices, etc. from this money as well.
But where in Belgium Prince Astrid and Prince Laurent gets a dotation, their Dutch 'colleagues' Prince Friso and Prince Constantijn never ever received one cent.

So it is strange indeed.

 

[princess olga]

Of course it is true, to be fair on Laurent, that a professionally educated nanny could easily set one back around 60,000 euro's, so that's one expense. And yes, I suspect Laurent has at least one secretary/assistant of sorts.

Perhaps this is, versus for example Constantijn of the Netherlands who alledgedly doesn't see a penny from his government (not that he needs it: his mother's family is said to be one of the largest private stake holders in Royal Dutch Shell--if that's the case, they could spare to hand out a euro or two to Laurent!) because Laurent's entire life is focused on helping the royal family with work visits and other representative functions.

Constantijn has a nice and prestigious day job, and hardly ever takes over for Willem Alexander. Friso same thing.

But am wondering: I do admire the passion with which Laurent is trying to help the plight of innocent animals, so in that sense I do have a huge soft spot for him. But other than that, Belgium is not exactly a huge country, and between the King and queen, and the crown princely couple, Laurent should hardly be needed one would think.

 

[johann]

Don’t know what to think about this story. Maybe it’s blown up by the press?
If it’s true, it’s the strangest way to ask for money. Putting out this sentimental story about the missing money for a new house and Claire eating up her savings – come on, this is really odd.

About his dotation: I highly doubt that he has to pay an assistant or a secretary. He is the President of the Board of Directors of the Royal Institute for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and the Promotion of Clean Technologies (IRGT). He has his office there and for sure an assistant paid by the Institute. His other duties are organized by the court and I assume that he does not have to pay for this. (I guess everybody would be happy if he finally falls back on the royal press service which is free of charge too.) So I guess he only has to pay his private staff like daily help or nannies.
Plus he does not have to pay rent for the Villa Clémentine since it belongs to the royal trust. It’s always nicer to have some more money at one’s disposal, but 300.000 euros should be enough to pay Laurent’s bills.

BTW the nieuws on vtm are concerned with his money problems too.
(Follow this link http://www.vtm.be/nieuws/index_bekijkonline.htm and then go to Donderdag 27/07 19u, the clip begins at about 26.35 min runtime.)
They have some nice pics of the Villa Clémentine – it’s not a castle, but also not a hut.
Furthermore they reported that Laurent receives some cash injection from his parents, that his dotation is thrice as high as the prime ministers salary (!) and that he still runs an impressive automobile-park. And they appreciatively repeat his declaration that he wants to bring up his children without help.
Laurent didn’t want to pass a comment.