Former Belgian King Albert II has admitted he is the biological father of Delphine Boël, a 51-year-old artist, following a court-ordered DNA test. The admission ends a legal battle that began in 2013 after the king abdicated, losing his immunity from prosecution.
In a statement released on Monday, the ex-king's lawyers confirmed the DNA results showed he is Boël's father. The 85-year-old monarch decided to halt the litigation and now accepts Boël as his fourth child. Boël's lawyer, Marc Uyttendaele, described the admission as a 'relief' and said her life had been 'a long nightmare' due to the quest for identity.
Rumours of an illegitimate child first surfaced in 1999 in an unauthorised biography of Queen Paola. Boël publicly alleged Albert was her father in a 2005 interview. Her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, claimed an affair with Albert between 1966 and 1984, when he was still Prince of Liège.
Albert became king in 1993 after his brother Baudouin's death and abdicated in July 2013 due to ill health, succeeded by his son Philippe. Shortly after abdication, Boël opened court proceedings. Last year, a Brussels appeals court fined Albert €5,000 per day for refusing a DNA test, which he eventually provided.
Boël's lawyer noted she pursued the case to prevent her children from bearing the burden of uncertainty. The former king now faces potential inheritance claims from Boël, as the court had ruled that without the test, she would be presumed his daughter.
