The prince's various gaffes and scandals have led to the former military helicopter pilot being nicknamed The Cursed Prince (Le Prince Maudit).
It is a convention in most of Europe that royal families are merely to be seen, not to be heard. This simply means that they reign but they do not rule. In Belgium, it appears that one particular prince wishes that the rules were different.
Prince Laurent, the younger brother of King Philippe of Belgium, caused a diplomatic furore when he visited a celebration honouring the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army on July 19 at the Chinese Embassy in Brussels.
This caused a scandal in Belgian royalty and governmental circles as nobody authorised the prince to visit the celebration on behalf of Belgium.
The Prince's outspokenness on various issues has earned him the nickname 'Belgium's Prince Phillip'
A precondition of 54-year-old Prince Laurent's state income of £264,634 is that the scandal-prone prince is not allowed to have contact with foreign dignitaries without authorisation.
Even though reports first stated that Prince Laurent might lose his entire stipend, it was eventually proposed by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and King Philippe that a partial retraction of Price Laurent's yearly stipend might be more suitable.
The proposal, which advocates to cut Prince Laurent's stipend by up to 15 per cent a year, will be decided upon by the Belgian government next week.
Prince Laurent's lawyer said his if client was banned from seeing foreign dignitaries it could lead to 'social isolation'
Meanwhile, the scandal-prone Belgian prince has said that the government's proposal to cut his £264,000 allowance is a 'violation of human rights' that he may appeal to the highest European court.
Prince Laurent's lawyer sent a seven-page letter to Prime Minister Michel and the government.
According to the lawyer, the law on which the Belgian government is using to cut the stipend contradicts the country's constitution and violates human rights.
The seven page letter also states that the government sentences Prince Laurent to 'social isolation' as the ban on unauthorised contact with foreign dignitaries includes some relatives.
Laurent Arnauts argued that his visit to the embassy caused 'no diplomatic damage of any kind' and also states the prince has no access to social security or a pension, nor the right to do any paid work.
It would be interesting to see how the issue is resolved.
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