King Albert II ordered to undergo DNA test

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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