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ninjagoo 5 hours ago

So no merit, effort or capability-based gains; instead a straight title, prestige, wealth and inheritance gain through DNA, over which no offspring has any control.

tecleandor 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

He got equal inheritance rights as every person gets from his parents. In this case I see it as "You had a kid, you better take charge of that."

Also:

> But he will not receive a royal allowance, nor will he be expected to take on official duties, and he has no rights to the Belgian throne. Vandenkerckhove could take his father’s family name, Saxe-Coburg, but has indicated he may not choose to.

bombcar 44 minutes ago | parent [-]

I mean that's a straight loss of 7 characters, 8 letters if you count it that way. Bad deal!

vl 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

” But he will not receive a royal allowance, nor will he be expected to take on official duties, and he has no rights to the Belgian throne.”

So it seems nothing will change for him.

guax 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I got curious about this but it seems that this is also the case for all his siblings. His bio dad gets it (EUR 300k/y) because of a transitional compromise but the future princes aside from the presumptive heir to the throne will not get it.

Not that they might be any close to being destitute given the estate size.

As for him, I suppose you can sue for backpay child support.

m3kw9 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

he can now borrow against that inheritance

jstanley 3 hours ago | parent [-]

You know or you merely speculate?

tyromaniac 3 hours ago | parent [-]

The article states he's due for a share of the inheritance, as to if he could get a prodigal son style advance I dont know

green_wheel 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah, people leave their things to their children. It's been happening for quite some time now. You should look into it.

afpx 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wait, you mean there's a place in the world where people with merit, effort, and capability thrive?

fragmede 29 minutes ago | parent [-]

Yes. unfortunately rich people without merit effort and capability are still rich and some of them don't work very hard, so it looks pretty much the same as every other place in the world.

geremiiah an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

His ancestors murdered and stole a whole lot for him to gain that priviledge.

mrtksn 41 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sounds like any rich kid ever TBH.

michaeljx 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Like the good nepotistic society we are

zdragnar 5 hours ago | parent [-]

I'm struggling to understand what the desirable alternative is here. Children shouldn't be recognized by their patients? Or only lower class parents should have the burden of sharing their income with their children?

tbrownaw 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> what the desirable alternative is here

Limits on how much parents can spend other people's resources on their kids. Which goes with civil office being a job rather than a special privilege.

cromka an hour ago | parent [-]

Expert nobody is spending anything on the new prince?

jackb4040 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Aristocracies should not exist anywhere on earth in 2026, except in ceremonial form. Their ill-gotten gains should be expropriated into the hands of the state.

It's dishonest of you to argue that they should be treated like normal citizens while they cling desperately to their distinct and superior position. If they want to be treated as normal people all they have to do is renounce their titles.

waterheater 3 hours ago | parent [-]

So what's stopping the Belgian people from grabbing torches and pitchforks, marching to the castle, and demanding that this injustice be immediately reconciled?

hyperman1 an hour ago | parent [-]

The king is already mostly ceremonial. He seems mainly a stabilization factor for the country when both halves get a bout of separatism once more: He is the ultimate person every major politician talks to when nobody wants to talk to each other. The king does have some extra rights, but not too much, and the alternative seems worse.

King Albert 2 didn't want to become king but nobody else with enough capability was available. So it's not just a fun job.

But yes, the discussion to king or not pops up once in a while, and the general response seems to be we got much bigger problems.

madaxe_again 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

All children should be gestated in womb-bladders in state hatcheries, and raised to maturity by the state. Knowing or wanting to know your parents should be considered a deviancy, a perversion.

Oh wait that’s Brave New World. Or The Naked Sun, depending on your preferred flavour of SF nightmare.

alberto-m 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Or Plato's Republic, if one prefers older books.

waterheater 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You might find interesting an old comment of mine speculating about legal rights of a human being born by an artificial womb: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37314083

dgellow an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That’s what royalty is

terabytest 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sounds like the definition of monarchy?

ck2 33 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

could be worse, there are people all over the world that look startling a lot like Musk including in Africa but he won't do DNA tests

(not making this up, google it)

toomuchtodo 10 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is reality, meritocracy is the exception, not the rule. first time? meme here

skrebbel 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wealth gain? How?

Retric 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Inheritance, or more quickly the ability to borrow against that inheritance.

zuzululu 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you view this life as a simulation and that this is the only possible one you will inhibit, it all looks absurd for the very thing you mentioned, the snapshot of it alone suggests chaos stochastic properties with seemingly no order but this isn't your fault as much of Western perspective has judeo-christian roots reject the Eastern philosophy that have preceded it for several milllenias thus I'd argue would be more grounded and accurate seeing that geographically isolated and separated cultures who have never come into contact with other have discovered the same conclusions.

The new wave movement in the West frame it as a simulation hypothesis perspective, your DNA is the passport through many simulations you've experienced and it carries the merit, effort and capabilities gained over time.

We just call it Buddhism outside san francisco.

bell-cot 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Are you advocating for all children being anonymized and raised in orphanages? Or a 100% inheritance tax? Or just expressing disappointment at your own relative lack of wealthy & famous recent ancestors?

short_sells_poo 4 hours ago | parent [-]

100% inheritance tax would be ideal, but it's never going to happen in practice.

afh1 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Remove the greatest incentive for long term investment, what could go wrong?

analog31 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

What are some of our greatest long term investments? I can think of a few: The national parks, university system, Federal Reserve, NIH...

jackb4040 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"you can't just abolish nepotism, that's tantamount to abolishing capitalism!"

yes

98532468997522 44 minutes ago | parent [-]

"People bequeathing their own property is literally nepotism" - Tankies and their idols Stalin, Mao, and Kim Jong Un

omgwtfbyobbq 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Depending on what motivations are, separate controlling interest from personal wealth, at least above some reasonable limit.

Obviously easier said than done, but unless the predominant incentive for everyone is just to generate more wealth for themselves/relatives/etc, other existing incentives should be sufficient to invest.

artisinal 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

My father has a wonderful collection of model trains. It’s rather valuable in money. I have been playing with his trains since I was a young boy. Good memories.

Are you telling me that if I can’t afford to pay the state the full value of that train set, the trains will go to a government auction?

Rumple22Stilk an hour ago | parent [-]

Yes? Why would you deserve free money?

bombcar 41 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

So if his father gives him the trains before death, it's fine, but at or after is not? Fun times ahead!

Also the value of model trains and the selling price are highly different numbers.

AnimalMuppet 28 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Turn that around, though: Why would the state deserve 100% of my stuff, just because I died? Why can't I dispose of it as I see fit?

98532468997522 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

You should be expropriated. Why would you deserve property?