This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

It’s been described by one Belgian newspaper as “la gaffe de trop”, the gaffe too far, after a Belgian prince dressed in his naval officer’s uniform to attend an unauthorised ceremony in honour of the 90th anniversary of the founding of China’s People’s Liberation Army.

Prince Laurent – younger brother to Philippe, king of the Belgians – has a history of contentious meetings with foreign powers and faces a 10% fine from his endowment of €308,000 (£280,000) a year.

Last year the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, banned the prince from unauthorised talks with senior foreign officials after a series of unapproved excursions.

Laurent’s previous diplomatic freelancing has involved jetting off to see President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who, after 16 years in power, refuses to stand down on the grounds that the country cannot afford elections.

He also enjoyed frequent visits to Libya between 2008 and 2010, where he had been hoping to go into business with one of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons. Laurent was given a final warning last December after he went on an unauthorised visit to see the prime minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The People’s Liberation Army event may have gone unnoticed but the wayward prince tweeted a picture of himself attending the ceremony at the Chinese embassy in Brussels, leaving the Belgian prime minister with little choice but to act.

Laurent of Belgium (@Laurent_of_B) 19/7/2017

Commemoration of 90th anniversary of the founding of the chinese people's liberation army. pic.twitter.com/xHWZnw2Wcr

“It was in consultation with the king that the prime minister made the decision to apply for a sanction,” a spokesman said. In his defence, Laurent, 53, claimed he had merely responded to a personal invitation.

The youngest son of the former king and queen, Albert II and Paola, has form for embarrassing his family. Last year, after a critical report from the Belgian court of audit, the financial watchdog for public institutions, Laurent was forced to repay €16,000 to the Belgian state for claiming expenses for a ski holiday, supermarket bills and the school fees of his three children.

Belgian prince under fire after hitting out at politicians 'bugging' him Read more

He has previously taken to Belgian television to attack his family, with whom he is barely on speaking terms, claiming they were like the Stasi secret police and had sought to sabotage his career. “My family has never supported me,” he complained.

In 2011, Laurent, who trained in the army and navy before becoming a helicopter pilot, lost his driver’s licence after being caught speeding at 20mph above the limit throughBrussels in his Fiat Abarth Punto. The prince, who has a British wife, declared there should be “a special licence for those driving a fast car”.

He is due to give his side of the Chinese incident to the prime minister in September but the conservative Flemish party, the N-VA, is insisting he face the consequences of his actions.

“If a member of the royal family has contact with representatives of a foreign power, he cannot do that without the government’s approval. It’s as simple as that,” said the party’s spokesman on the monarchy, Peter Buysrogge.

“I will therefore question the prime minister about this incident and I assume that he is giving the appropriate consequences.”

• This article was amended on 8 August 2017. An earlier version referred to the “late King Albert II”. This has been corrected to say the former king; Albert II did not die but abdicated in 2013.

