Prince Laurent Of Belgium And King Albert II

Prince Laurent always had a reputation as a “bad boy,” but by the time he wastried for fraud in 2007, he’d become something of an embarrassment to the people of Belgium.

It all started when a group of Belgian veterans were accused of misusing public money. Prince Laurent was called to testify as a witness, and strangely, King Albert II allowed the prince to appear in court. But once the king did away with Laurent’s royal immunity, the “bad boy” was accused of using navy funding to pay for extensive renovations on his holiday villa. He was ultimately acquitted of the charges, but he was banned from both royal functions and the palace for quite some time.

Several years later, however, King Albert II was involved in his own scandal. Allegations arose that Albert had an illegitimate child that he refused to acknowledge. His alleged daughter, Delphine Boel, released the book Cutting the Umbilical Cord in 2014, in which she angrily accused the king of ignoring her existence.