Belgium’s former king Albert II forced to recognise love-child from affair
- 85-year-old ex-monarch admits he is biological father of Belgian artist Delphine Boel
- Admission ends ‘painful’ legal battle that has dragged on since 2013
Belgium’s former king Albert II admitted he was the father of a daughter born from an affair half a century ago after a DNA test he was forced to take came back positive.
Recognising he is the “biological father” of Belgian artist Delphine Boel, the 85-year-old ex-monarch said in a statement on Monday he had decided to halt a “painful” paternity legal battle that has dragged on since 2013, the year he abdicated and lost his immunity.
Albert had repeatedly denied being the father of Boel, who had made her claim over the past two decades before turning to the courts.
Boel, now aged 51, has maintained that her aristocratic mother, Sybille de Selys Longchamps, had an affair with Albert between 1966 and 1984. She was raised by her mother’s husband, Jacques Boel, but won a court decision that he was not her “legal father”.
