January 27, 2020
5:54 p.m.
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Albert II confirmed that the DNA results showed that he was indeed the biological father of Delphine Boël.
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DNA tests imposed by justice on Albert II show that the former sovereign is the biological father of Delphine Boël. The lawyer of Albert II, Me Alain Berenboom, confirmed this information to the Belga agency. He also specifies thatAlbert II will no longer challenge the authorship of the artist Delphine Boël, now 51 years old.
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“An essential step”
“Delphine Boël is aware of the results of the genetic expertise which demonstrate that Albert II is indeed his biological father. This is an essential stage in the long fight which it has waged for several years already for that his real identity is unquestionably established“, reacted Me Marc Uyttendaele, the lawyer of Delphine Boël.
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“Delphine Boël wishes to recall, at this important moment, having accepted for years to live with the secret of her origins, and this in the general interest“, continued Mr. Uyttendaele.”This was not without suffering. Jacques Boël did not consider her as his daughter. He simply took care to preserve appearances to avoid any scandal. Albert II, meanwhile, violently rejected her when it was revealed that he was her father“said Delphine’s lawyer.
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7 years of legal proceedings
It was in 2013 that Delphine Boël decided to take the path of justice to prove that her biological father was Albert II. She had then initiated a procedure to contest the paternity of Jacques Boël, her legal father, with a view to subsequently introducing a procedure in recognition of the paternity of the former King of the Belgians. Jacques Boël had not contested this action in disavowal of paternity. He had carried out a DNA test which had revealed that he was indeed not the biological father.
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Delphine Boël always said to be the daughter of Albert II with whom his mother, Sybille de Selys Longchamps, had an affair between 1966 and 1984. It was in 1999 that Delphine Boël was presented as the illegitimate daughter of Albert II by certain media. Albert II then admitted that he and his wife, Queen Paola, had crossed over a conjugal crisis in the 1970s. But he never admitted to being the biological father of Delphine Boël.
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Last December, the Court of Cassation had pronounced in public hearing the dismissal of the appeal brought by Albert II against two judgments of the Brussels Court of Appeal, mainly that of October 25, 2018 which had established that Jacques Boël was not the legal father of Delphine Boël and who had ordered the former king to undergo a DNA test.
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Albert II, by the voice of his lawyers, appealed on points of law against these judgments. The court of appeal, however, issued a new judgment on May 16 which ordered the former king to pass this test in the short term, with the guarantee that the results would only be used by the courts in the event that the Court of Cassation would endorse previous judgments rendered and that a paternity procedure then started by Delphine Boël. Albert II submitted to this genetic test last May 28, which allowed Delphine Boël to introduce a procedure in recognition of paternity of Albert II.
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