King Albert II's lawyer, Guy Hiernaux, has clarified a statement that he made to the New York Times concerning Albert's decision to undergo DNA testing.
"I said I thought he would agree to submit to the DNA test insofar as he obtained that the test will remain secret the Court of Cessation makes a final decision," he told the Belga news agency.
He said that the king was "undermined" by the legal process. "He is suffering a lot from this procedure. Hiernaux states that the New York Times misunderstood what he said and he believes that king will submit to the DNA, proving or denying Delphine Boel's claim that she is his daughter.
"There is no reason why he refuses. But at the moment I do not know what he has decided."
The King "suffers enormously from this process, and for five years he has been persecuted by returning to this 50-year-old story. and his health is far from good."
The Court of Appeals has ordered the king to to submit to a mandatory DNA test as a part of Miss Boel's paternity request. Her mother, Baroness Sybille de Sélys Longchamps, had an affair with Albert, then the heir presumptive to the throne, in the 1960s. The Baroness was at the time married to Jacques Boel. DNA testing has proved that he is not Delphine's biological father.
The Court of Appeals has ruled that the DNA testing would remain secret until a final decision from the Court of Cassation.
https://www.rtl.be/info/belgique/famille-royale/le-roi-albert-ii-mine-par-l-affaire-delphine-boel-il-souffre-enormement-affirme-son-avocat-1126616.aspx?dt=09:33
Here are a few other articles I have written on this case.
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
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2017/02/delphine-boel-vs-king-albert-ii.html
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2018/11/king-albert-ii-ordered-to-undergo-dna.html
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2019/05/king-albert-ordered-to-pay-5000-euros.html
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2019/02/albert-wont-consent-to-dna-test.html
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2019/05/king-albert-will-do-dna-test.html
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In this whole mess I have two questions. If King Albert II didn't want to submit to the DNA test and thus clarify the matter of Ms. Boel as his daughter, why did he abdicate? Nobody forced him to leave the throne and thus lose the protection his position gave him. Surely he must have known Ms. Boel was not going to let the matter go. He's claiming that this legal kerfuffle is negatively affecting his health. If that's the case, then why didn't he stay as king regnant until he died, perhaps delegating more and more things to his son, but never abdicating? The second question I have is in regards to Mr. Boel, the discarded father. How does he feel about the matter? Didn't he and Ms. Boel have a good relationship? Was he an absent, indifferent father who would be glad to be taken off the birth certificate?
ReplyDeleteJacques Boel probably knew from the very beginning but was the legal father because he was married to Delphine's mom. They were divorced in 1978 and Sybille remarried in 1982 to an Englishman. It was in 1999 when the story first broke. Albert's Christmas speech that year alluded to the affair, child, and many assume this was an acknowledgment.
ReplyDeleteEveryone knows that Delphine is his child -- Paola is said to be behind his decisions.