Monday, November 5, 2018
King Albert II ordered to undergo DNA test
November 5, 2018
King Albert II of Belgium has been ordered to undergo a DNA test within the next three months, according to a Belgian court ruling announced today in Brussels.
[Albert remains styled as King of Belgium, but is no longer King of the Belgians.]
He must submit to the DNA test to establish whether he is the biological father of Delphine Boel. The ruling was handed down on October 25 and made public by Miss Boel's attorneys.
In 2013, a DNA test proved conclusively that Boel, who 50 years old, is not the biological daughter of Jacques Boel, who was married to her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, who had a long term affair with the then Prince Albert, Prince of Liege, heir presumptive to his older brother, King Baudouin,
In 1959, Albert married Italian nobleman, Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria. The couple had three children. King Philippe, Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent. By the mid-1960s, there were rumors that their marriage was in serious trouble with reports of infidelity from both sides.
The first public reports of Albert fathering a child out of wedlock came in late 1999 with the publication of unauthorized biography of Queen Paola. Neither Delphine nor her mother were named in the book, but it did not take long for Belgian journalists to identify Sybille and Delphine, neither of whom would confirm the the allegations at the time.
But King Albert II did allege to marital problems in his 1999 Christmas speech, where he said "This Christmas feast is also the occasion for each of us to think to one's own family, to one's happy periods but also to one's difficult moments. The Queen and I have remembered very happy periods but also the crisis that our couple have experienced more than 30 years ago. Together we could, very longtime ago already, surpass those difficulties and find back a deep understanding and love. This period has been recalled to us short ago. We don't wish to dwell on that subject which belongs to our private lives. But, if certain people who meet today similar problems could get some reasons to hope from our lived experience, we would be so happy."
Many have assume that the King was acknowledging his relationship with the Baroness Sybille.
When Delphine turned 18-years-old, her mother told her that Albert was her father.
It was not until 2013 that Delphine began the process to establish the fact that Albert II is her biological father. Albert, who succeeded his brother, King Baudouin, in 1992, enjoyed immunity from the courts and was not obligated to respond to Delphine's legal request. He lost immunity following his abdication on July 21, 2013.
A DNA test in 2014 proved that Jacques Boel was not Delphine's biological father. Three years later, a Belgian court ruled, that despite Jacques Boel's DNA test, Albert II was not Delphine's legal father. Her lawyer said after the 2017 ruling: "You can lose battles, but win the war, and I'm determined to win this war, especially as this decision seems to me in many ways to be questionable."
Albert can refuse to submit to the DNA test. If this happens, the case will be referred to Belgian highest court, the Court of Cassation.
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2016/10/king-albert-ii-summoned-to-court.html
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2017/03/albert-ii-is-not-delphine-boels-legal.html
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4 comments:
A little off topic, but what would have been an equivalent style and title to how Queen Paola was styled prior to her marriage? Would she be the equivalent to how a British duke's daughter, such as Lady so and So? Or, was she, as daughter of a non-royal prince, a non-royal princess?
There is no equivalent .. status, titles, etc of noble families in different countries are different. She was not a princess .. but styled as Donna Paola. Donna is Lady, but it is not the same as the style Lady for a daughter of a duke, marquess or an earl. the sons are Don. One would not translate it in English to Lady Paola --- Just as one would not translate Lady Louise Windsor to Donna Louise Windsor ...
If Ms. Boel succeeds in obtaining a DNA test and it turns out that King Albert II is indeed her father, would that carry any repercussions as far as the order of succession to the Belgian throne? Would she be entitled to be known as Princess Delphine of Belgium? Would she stand to inherit anything from King Albert II?
Never mind about my questions in my previous message. I clicked on the referenced articles and got the answers to all of them. Thanks!
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