Former King Albert II of Belgium had to step down in the year 2013 after getting embroiled in a paternity lawsuit. In 2005, Delphine Boël, a Belgian Visual artist had claimed that she was his daughter from an extramarital affair. Delphine Boël said that her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, was conceived with her during an affair between her mother and the then Prince Albert in the 1960s. Delphine Boël was born in February 1968. Delphine Boël’s mother had maintained a long-term relationship with the then Prince Albert and she claimed that he fathered her daughter.
While King Albert II had never explicitly denied Ms. Boël’s claim, he refused to acknowledge it. Delphine Boël filed a lawsuit seeking recognition of her as his biological daughter in 2013. King Albert II stepped down citing health reasons and he made his eldest son the king in 2013 in order to avoid his prosecution. Delphine had sought acknowledgement 20 years ago from King Albert II but her appeals were rejected despite there being evidence that the king was involved in her early childhood. However, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps’ husband, Jacques Boël had officially recognised her as his child when registering her birth. By law, that made him Boël’s legitimate father. The court of appeal ruled that Jacques Boël, with whom she grew up, was not her biological father after his DNA test.
The court recognised Delphine’s right to know her real father and ordered to compare Delphine’s DNA with King Albert II. In January 2020, the court-ordered DNA test proved that Delphine Boël was the daughter of King Albert. The verdict from the court made the King Albert II admit the paternity. Following the verdict, Delphine Boel would be entitled to some property of the king, but would not enter the royal line of sucession.
Belgium is a constitutional monarchy, where most of the governing power rests with the Parliament, much like the systems in other European nations such as Britain, Spain, or the Netherlands. King Albert II was a second son and, hence he was not expected to succeed to the throne. But Albert’s elder brother, King Baudouin, died suddenly of heart failure in 1993 and as he had no legal heirs, Albert II was crowned as the king. Albert was then a prince and was married to Paola Ruffo di Calabria, an Italian princess. Prince Albert and his wife already had three children.