Royal households have a way of producing surprising musicians, and Belgium's is no exception. Twenty-year-old Prince Emmanuel, the third child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and a member of the same generation as Spain's Princess Leonor, has just released his first solo single — recorded, fittingly, on location around some of Brussels' most storied landmarks, including the Galerie du Roi.
© Getty ImagesIt's the kind of unveiling that invites an obvious comparison: four decades ago, another royal took a very similar leap into pop music, with more explosive results. More on that in a moment.
Emmanuel's musical alter ego is DJ Vyntrix, and it's been building quietly for a while. A trained saxophonist, the prince developed a parallel pull toward electronic music and eventually partnered with French musician Louis-Elzéar de Monspey, releasing a run of tracks together — Rio, Palace (its title a wink at his own royal upbringing) and Free.
Now, according to Het Laatste Nieuws, after a period of quiet, Vyntrix is going solo. The new single arrives dressed in imagery of the Belgian capital, a deliberate homecoming of sorts for an artist whose earlier work already leaned on royal references.
© Getty ImagesMusic runs through the whole household. Emmanuel plays saxophone; his younger sister, Princess Eléonore, plays violin. His catalog so far includes the track "Wonder," now streaming across platforms. How far he'll take it remains an open question. Queen Mathilde herself tempered expectations a year ago, in July 2025, calling it simply "a bit of fun among friends."
That framing — a hobby, not a career pivot — tracks with another shift in Emmanuel's life. He began international business management and marketing studies at Vives University of Applied Sciences in September 2025, only to quietly leave the program three months later. Het Laatste Nieuws reports he's since enrolled in a more hands-on, French-language business development course, trading theory-heavy coursework for something closer to practice.
The precedent: Princess Stéphanie's pop moment
© frederic meylanEmmanuel isn't the first royal to trade the palace for the charts. In the 1980s, at 21, Princess Stéphanie of Monaco stunned the public with her pop debut, Ouragan ("Hurricane"). The single topped French charts for nearly three months, reached number two in West Germany, and ultimately sold more than five million copies — a genuine phenomenon.
Her music career had an even more unexpected credit: while staying in Los Angeles, Michael Jackson used her voice on "In the Closet," from his "Dangerous" album. She was listed in the credits only as "mystery girl," and it took years before Jackson confirmed her identity. Stéphanie later said she'd hoped to open for him on his French tour dates, a plan that never came together given the reaction from his fanbase.
Her music took a back seat once she began a relationship with her bodyguard, Daniel Ducruet. She returned to it only once more, in 2016, with a charity single supporting Fight AIDS Monaco, the organization she serves as an ambassador for.
Whether Emmanuel's solo run turns into something more than a family pastime, or follows Stéphanie's path of one bright chart moment before life moves elsewhere, is still anyone's guess.
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