Dutch prince’s illegitimate son battles his way into royal family

THE illegitimate son of a Dutch prince looks likely to finally be accepted as a member of the Netherlands royal family after a long legal battle to overturn an informal deal struck at his birth.

Hugo Klynstra, 21, is the son of Prince Carlos – the cousin of the Dutch King Willem-alexander – and Brigitte Klynstra, a childhood friend of Carlos with whom he had a relationship.

Prince Carlos had insisted that when Ms Klynstra became pregnant, the couple made an agreement that the child would receive no royal title or other rights. The prince has always insisted that his former lover made “an independent decision” to have the child.

However, on reaching 18 Hugo Klynstra decided to challenge that arrangement and has fought a series of legal battles to be granted royal status.

He wants the grandiose title of His Royal Highness Prince Carlos Hugo Roderik Sybren de Bourbon de Parme and has also demanded that he be listed in a register of the Dutch nobility.

In the latest round of the battle, the matter was discussed yesterday by the Council of State, an advisory body to the Dutch royal family.

The meeting was held behind closed doors, but the council is expected to make a decision favourable to Mr Klynstra within weeks, according to De Telegraaf and other Dutch newspapers.

It would be the end of a legal and constitutional battle that began three years ago, when the 21-year-old first mounted the challenge to his father.

Prince Carlos, who is married with three children, has never disputed that Hugo is his son but has remained resolutely opposed to him being given any royal privileges. He has said little about the saga, apart from describing it as “sad and personal”.

The prince, who is head of the House of Bourbon-parma as well as a member of the Dutch royal family, appears to be fighting a losing battle – two years ago, then justice minister, Ard van der Steur, ruled in favour of Mr Klynstra’s claim, describing it as valid.

Last year, a court in The Hague backed the minister’s ruling.

Ms Klynstra brought up the boy on her own, although the prince would visit them. Under Dutch law illegitimate royals are entitled to claim their family’s name and titles.

Born in Nijmegen in 1970, Prince Carlos spent his youth in the Netherlands, Spain, France and the UK. He studied political science in the US and philosophy at Cambridge.

After graduating, he worked in banking and then as a public affairs consultant. He was 26 when Hugo was born.

In 2010 he married his current wife, Annemarie Cecilia Gualtherie van Weezel, a journalist and the daughter of a Dutch MP and ambassador.

When he learned in 2015 that Hugo was seeking to claim a royal title, he said: “I have been informed that Hugo Klynstra has made such a request.

That request is now the subject of a legal procedure on my initiative. It is a personal affair with a background that is sad for me.”

His cousin, King Willem-alexander, acceded to the Dutch throne in 2013 following the abdication of his mother, Queen Beatrix.

The Queen, 75, stepped down after 33 years on the throne, making her son the country’s first king in more than a century.