{|align=right | |- |  |- {|align=right | |} prince laurent of belgium (french: laurent benoÃ®t baudouin marie de belgique, dutch: laurens benedikt boudewijn maria van belgiÃ«; born on 19 october 1963) is the son of king albert ii and queen paola, and is the brother of king philippe. born in chÃ¢teau de belvÃ©dÃ¨re, near laeken, belgium, he was educated at the royal cadet high school and at the royal military academy. he was promoted to the rank of ship-of-the-line captain on 26 june 2004. prince laurent is president of the royal institute for the sustainable management of natural resources and the promotion of clean technologies and president of the prince laurent foundation for the welfare of domestic and wild animals. as of 2008, prince laurent is an ambassador for future harvest, a washington, d.c., based agricultural research association. his involvement with animal welfare and the environment, together with a relative lack of interest in protocol, has caused him to be dubbed by elements of the popular belgian press as 'Ã©colo-gaffeur' (the ecolo-blunderer). at this time he is 11th in the line of succession to the throne of belgium. ==place in succession== prince laurent used to be third-in-line to the throne, but this changed when the constitution was altered so that women would enjoy the same succession rights as men. a rumour has it that this was done at the instigation of king baudouin i, who is said to have disliked laurent because he did not share the king's strict religious views. he is now 11th-in-line to the belgian throne. ==marriage and children== prince laurent and miss claire louise coombs, born
1963_births Alumni_of_Royal_Military_Academy_of_Belgium Belgian_people_of_Italian_descent Belgian_people_of_Swedish_descent Belgian_royal_princes Commanders_Grand_Cross_of_the_Order_of_the_Polar_Star Grand_Cordons_of_the_Order_of_Leopold_(Belgium) Grand_Cross_of_the_Order_of_Civil_Merit Grand_Crosses_of_the_Order_of_Adolphe_of_Nassau Grand_Crosses_of_the_Order_of_Merit_of_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany Grand_Crosses_of_the_Order_of_Merit_of_the_Republic_of_Hungary_(civil) Grand_Crosses_of_the_Order_of_Prince_Henry Grand_Crosses_of_the_Order_of_the_Crown_(Netherlands) Grand_Crosses_of_the_Royal_Norwegian_Order_of_Merit House_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha_(Belgium) Knights_of_Honour_and_Devotion_of_the_Order_of_St_John Knights_of_Malta Living_people People_from_Brussels Princes_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha