Former king Albert’s DNA results must be released to Delphine Boël
An appeals court has refused to overturn the decision to allow the alleged biological daughter of Belgium’s former king access to the results of a DNA test he provided earlier this year
Family matters
Boël has been trying for six years to prove that Albert II, father of King Filip, is her biological father. According to Boël’s mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, Boël is Albert’s daughter, and he acknowledged her as such privately during their 16-year affair in the 1960s and ’70s.
In a televised interview in 2013 – the same year that Albert abdicated the throne to Filip – the baroness, who now lives in the south of France, openly discussed the affair and Boël’s formative years. She produced photographs of Boël as a little girl together with Albert. The king was married to Queen Paola at the time.
It is probably a matter of weeks or months before the court makes an announcement about paternity
Sybille’s former husband, who raised Boël as his own daughter, has also confirmed that Albert, now 85, is her biological father. A DNA test he submitted proved that he was not her biological father.
If proven to be Albert’s daughter, Boël, 51, stands to inherit, though how much would depend on whether Albert dies before Paola. According to their marriage contract, Paola will inherit a lion’s share of Albert’s estate, which would eventually only go to the children she had with Albert. In other words: King Filip, Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent. Boël has repeatedly said that she simply wants her father to acknowledge her.
The former king had appealed the order to release a DNA sample, and the appeals court has now refused to overturn the order from a lower court. According to former history lecturer and royalty watcher Mark Van den Wijngaert “it is probably a question of weeks or month before the court makes an announcement about paternity”.
Photo, from left: Delphine Boël flanked by her lawyers
©Dirk Waem/BELGA
