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“The parallel diplomacy of Prince Laurent”, leads La Libre Belgique, which goes on to reveal that the youngest son of King Albert II has “tried to support the Libyan rebels”. The previous day, the prince did indeed “hold a meeting to plead the cause of Libyan diplomats in Brussels who wanted to overthrow the ambassador, who has remained loyal to Colonel Gaddafi.” There’s just one problem: these schemes went ahead without the knowledge of the Belgian government or the king. Hardly the first blunder of “Lawrence of Africa”, who, the Brussels daily notes, “was involved in an outlandish escapade in the Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-March” and recently even had “business relations with the [Gaddafi] regime.” The Flemish daily De Morgen recalls that in 2008 the Belgian Premier, Yves Leterme, wrote the prince a letter asking him to honour certain rules. “Because of Laurent’s disobedience, the government will make him an offer he will have to take, or leave. If he keeps breaking the rules, the prince will lose his entire allowance.”
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