Notable for his involvement in environmental and animal rights activism, this member of Belgian royalty and graduate of the Royal Military Academy is equally infamous for his public blunders.
At the time of his birth, he was third in the Belgian line of succession. After a law was passed that allowed older female royals to claim the throne before younger male heirs, he fell to a number eleven position in the royal line.
He headed both the Prince Laurent Foundation for the Welfare of Domestic and Wild Animals and the Royal Institute for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and the Promotion of Clean Technologies.
His marriage to Princess Claire resulted in three children: Princess Louise and Princes Nicolas and Aymeric.
He and his cousin, Princess Marie-Esmeralda, are both members of Belgian royalty. He is the son of King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium; Marie-Esmeralada is the daughter of King Leopold III and the Princess of Rethy.
