08 February 2004	Sunday	16 Zilhaj 1424

BRUSSELS, Feb 7: The youngest son of staunchly Roman Catholic Belgium's King Albert made the unusual suggestion on Saturday that he might ask a Muslim to be the godfather of his new-born daughter.

Belgium has many Muslims, mainly from north Africa, but is also home to far right party, the Vlaams Blok. It scored almost 20 per cent of the vote in the Dutch-speaking north of the country in last May's general election.

"The godfather of Louise could be a friend of mine who is a Muslim," King Albert's youngest son said at a televised news conference after the early morning birth of his first child.

"All that is still under consideration and we must think about it," said the 40-year-old Lauren.

Local news agency Belga quoted an academic as saying that Prince Laurent's idea could be difficult to realise, but that an exception to the rules could be requested from the church. -Reuters