Former Belgian King Albert II has admitted he is the biological father of Delphine Boël, a 51-year-old artist, following a DNA test ordered by a court. The admission ends a legal battle that began in 2013, after the king lost his immunity from prosecution upon abdicating.
In a statement released on Monday, the ex-king's lawyers confirmed that the scientific results indicated he was Ms Boël's father. The 85-year-old former monarch decided to halt the proceedings and now accepts her as his fourth child.
Ms Boël's lawyer, Marc Uyttendaele, described the admission as a relief, noting that her life had been a long nightmare due to the quest for identity. He added that she launched the legal fight to prevent her children from carrying the burden of the unresolved paternity.
Rumours of an illegitimate child first emerged in 1999 in an unauthorised biography of Queen Paola. Ms Boël publicly alleged in 2005 that King Albert was her father, and her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, claimed an affair with him between 1966 and 1984, when he was still Prince Albert of Liège.
King Albert II ascended the throne in 1993 after his brother's death and abdicated in July 2013 due to ill health. Shortly after, Ms Boël opened court proceedings. Last year, a Brussels appeals court fined him €5,000 per day for refusing to take the test, which he eventually provided.
