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| Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, Delphine Boël, and the Prince of Liege (later King Albert II of the Belgians) |
After years of legal battles on the matter, King Albert II of Belgium, who abdicated in 2013, has today acknowledged that he is the biological father of Delphine Boel. A communiqué from the king was issued via his attorney, Alain Berenboom, this evening. The statement reads as follows:
His Majesty King Albert II has taken note of the results of the DNA test in which he cooperated at the request of the Brussels court of appeal. The scientific conclusions show that he is the biological father of Madame Delphine Boël.
Even though there are arguments and legal objections to justify that legal paternity does not necessarily mean biological paternity, and that the procedure used seems to him disputable, King Albert has decided not to use those arguments and to end with honour and dignity this painful procedure.
King Albert insists that since the birth of Madame Delphine Boël he was not involved in any family, social or educational decision regarding Madame Delphine Boël, and that he has always respected the bond that existed between Madame Delphine Boël and her legal father.
Alain De Jonge, Delphine Boël’s lawyer, gave a brief comment after learning of the king’s unexpected admission of paternity: “We will refrain from commenting for the time being.”
Since the late 1990s, through both private and public channels, Delphine Boël has sought to gain recognition from King Albert II that he is her biological father. For almost twenty years, the king stubbornly refused to take any responsibility for his actions. It is not clear why the eighty-five year-old former sovereign has taken this step today. However, in an interview that the king’s lawyer Monsieur Berenboom gave today, he said: “The king will no longer legally contest that he is her legal father. We have noted the results of the DNA test. It shows that through DNA King Albert is 99.99% likely the biological father of Delphine Boël. The king will treat his children equally. He will include Boël in his will at the same level as his other children. King Albert therefore now has four children.”
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| Sybille de Selys Longchamps with her daughter Delphine. |
Jonkvrouw Delphine Michèle Anne Marie Ghislaine Boël was born on 22 February 1968 at Brussels. Her parents are Albert (b.1934), then Prince of Liège and later King of Belgium, and Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps (b.1941). At the time of Delphine’s birth, both of her parents were married to other people. Albert of Belgium had married Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria (b.1937) in 1959; Sybille de Selys Longchamps had married Jonkheer Jacques Boël in 1962. At the time of Delphine’s birth, her father already had three children with his wife, but her mother had no children with her husband.
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| Albert, Sybille, and Delphine on holiday in Corsica (1974). Photograph (c) VIER |
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| Sybille and Delphine |
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For many years, Delphine Boël has been in a relationship with James O’Hare. The couple have two children: Joséphine (b.2003) and Oscar (b.2008). One might surmise that Delphine named her children after her paternal great-great-great-grandparents, King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway and his wife Joséphine (née Duchess von Leuchtenberg).
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| U.S. Senator James McMillan of Michigan |
– Joséphine O’Hare (b.Uccle, Brussels 17 October 2003)
who wed in a civil ceremony at Stockholm on 4 November 1926 and then married in a religious ceremony at Brussels on 10 November 1926
who married at Namur on 10 May 1865
27. Eugénie Louise Philippine Ghislaine de Thysebaert (Namur 25 October 1844 – Brussels 6 July 1902)
