A Belgian car salesman has become a prince at the age of 26 after being legally acknowledged as the son of Prince Laurent. His mother, a Belgian singer who had a relationship with the prince in the 1990s, told him his true parentage when he turned 16. A DNA test proved his link to the royal family, leading to a low-key town hall ceremony about six months ago.

The formality affords the new prince equal inheritance rights to the estate with his half-sister Princess Louise and half-brothers Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric. But he will not receive a royal allowance, nor take on official duties, and holds no rights to the Belgian throne. He may take his father’s family name, Saxe-Coburg, but has indicated he may not choose to.

“I am proud of the name Vandenkerckhove,” he recently told Flemish daily newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. Once paternity was confirmed, he and his father engaged in open conversations. This is not the first time a secret involving Belgium’s Royal Family has emerged, as Laurent’s father once fought a paternity battle before admitting to another child.