Sussexes’ exit from royal life is backed by ‘cursed prince’
BELGIUM’S “cursed prince” has backed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s exit from royal life and said he understood the “unacceptable” feeling for royalty of being treated as an object rather than a real person.
Prince Laurent offered his support to the Duke, who he says he knows, and Duchess after their dramatic decision to step back from royal duties and move to Canada.
The gaffe-prone younger brother of King Philippe has long had a strained relationship with his family and the government, which pays him a salary.
“Prince Harry’s decision proves one thing [about being royal],” Prince Laurent said. “You are an object. That is unacceptable.”
He added: “A person should not be the property of his family or a government. Or you should be compensated for it. That’s why I never agreed with it myself. And I was punished for that.”
Prince Laurent, 56, had his £270,000 wages docked by £39,000 after lawmakers punished him for ignoring a ban on meeting foreign dignitaries.
He added: “Hopefully that will change, because I don’t want to be the victim of archaic people. I no longer want to be a thing owned by a structure or a government or a state.”
The prince was hit with a 15 per cent pay cut after he posted an image of himself in full naval uniform at a Chinese embassy party in Brussels to mark the 90th anniversary of the Red Army.
Nicknamed “Le prince maudit” – the cursed prince – he was previously criticised for an unsanctioned 2011 trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a former Belgian colony, and for attending meetings in Libya when Col Muammar Gaddafi was still in power.
He once likened the Belgian Royal family to the Stasi and five years ago accused his father, the former King Albert II, and Philippe of trying to ruin his life and hit out at a system that meant he had to ask permission to get married.