The love child of the former king of Belgium is seeking the same rights and titles as her father’s legitimate children via the courts.
Delphine Boël, 52, is the child of the former Belgian King Albert II.
The ex-royal admitted he was her father in January of this year after he had fought the paternity claim for over a decade.
The mother of artist Delphine, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, claims that she had an affair with Albert, 86, before he became king.
Delphine Boël, the love child of the abdicated Belgian king, Albert II, who is asking the courts to grant her the same rights as his other children
The former Belgian King Albert II who is the father of the artist Delphine Boël
Rumours of a royal scandal first sprang up in 1999 due to claims of an illegitimate child in an unauthorised biography about Albert’s wife, Queen Paola.
The former king had never made any public statement on the allegations, except for a cryptic 1999 statement in which he said he and Queen Paola lived through a ‘crisis’ in the late 1960s that almost wrecked their marriage , but that ‘a long while ago’ they overcame their marital problems.
The BBC said that Miss Boël initially alleged on record that King Albert was her biological father in 2005 during an interview.
After that, she repeatedly stated that she was the King’s daughter and used it as a theme in some of her professional artwork.
While Albert was on the throne, he could not be compelled to appear in court – limiting Miss Boël’s chances of proving her case.
However, she began court proceedings in 2013 when he abdicated from the throne and lost his royal immunity.
Miss Boël’s lawyer, Marc Uyttendaele, said on Thursday that she is seeking the same rights as Albert’s three other children – Philippe, now King of Belgium, Prince Laurent and Princess Astrid.
Mr Uyttendaele told the BBC: ‘Delphine’s position isn’t that she wants or doesn’t want to be princess.
‘She doesn’t want to be a cut-price child, she wants to have exactly the same privileges, titles and capacities as her brothers and her sister.’
A previous lawyer said that Miss Boël was not motivated by money, since she was better off as a Boël – an family of industrialists worth around $1billion.
Delphine Boël (centre), the love child of Belgium’s former king, is seeking the same rights as Albert II’s other children
Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, mother of Delphine Boël, with Baron Dieter von Malsen Ponickau
King Philippe of Belgium who followed his father onto the throne
Princess Astrid, daughter of the former king Albert II, and his youngest son Prince Laurent
It has been suggested that if the court rules in her favour that Miss Boël’s children will be eligible for a royal title.
But Albert’s legal team claim that Miss Boël can only be given the title princess by royal decree and not by a court.
Baroness Longchamps says that her affair, with the then Prince Albert of Liege, started in 1966 and ran until 1984.
She adds that he was a regular presence during the early years of Miss Boël’s life.
Longchamps divorced the claimant’s legal father, Jacques Boël, in 1978 and Belgian media reports claimed that he had disinherited his daughter because of the embarrassment that the scandal had caused to the family.
Albert married Queen Paola, or Paola Ruffo di Calabria as she was then known, in 1959 and the Italian princess was long seen as bringing a dash of glamour to the Belgian royal family.
Albert only came to the Belgian throne following the unexpected death of his brother King Baudouin in 1993 aged 62.
A renowned bon viveur, he was popular with both people and politicians for his easy going style and was seen as a unifying factor in the linguistically divided country.
He remained on the throne until he cited ill health in July 2013 and abdicated in favour of his son Philippe.
In 2018, a Brussels court ordered Albert to submit to a genetic sample in order to finally decide the matter.
He finally submitted to the test in 2019 after he was faced with fines of €5,000 (£4,600) for every day that he refused to comply.
In January 2020, Albert’s lawyer revealed the test results – which proved the former King was Miss Boël’s biological father.
Miss Boël’s lawyer said at the time that ‘her reaction was one of relief, emotion but also shows a wound that will not heal.’
He told RTL television that: ‘Her life has been a long nightmare because of this quest for identity.’
Delphine Boël and her solicitor Marc Uyttendaele outside court following the latest hearing
The King of Belgium is a constitutional monarch who largely plays a ceremonial role in affairs.
However, he was forced to make rare political interventions during a long period of political stalemate in the country in 2010 and 2011.
The royals have also faced criticism especially when it emerged that Queen Fabiola, the widow of Baudouin, had planned to pass on an estate in Spain using a trust to avoid paying tax.
The reports caused the Belgian government to reform the system of allowances and taxation for members of the monarchy.
Queen Paola, now 83, has also had a less public role since Albert abdicated in Philippe’s favour.
King Philippe is seen by many as a more reserved character than his father. He told a Belgian astronaut in 1992 that he should address him simply by his first name. ‘I think there is absolutely no protocol in space,’ he said.
Next in line to the throne is 18-year-old Princess Elisabeth, daughter of Philippe and Queen Mathilde.
The royal family announced this year that Elisabeth would enter the Royal Military School in Brussels to help prepare her for royal duties.
She was previously studying in Wales at the Atlantic College in the Vale of Glamorgan, taking an International Baccalaureate.