Former Belgian King Albert II has admitted he is the father of a woman born from an affair, after he was forced to give a DNA test which came back positive.<\/p>\n
He had been fighting the paternity claim by Belgian artist Delphine Bo\u00ebl, 51, for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
He lost his immunity from prosecution after he abdicated in 2013 due to ill health.<\/p>\n
Ms Bo\u00ebl’s lawyer said the admission from the former king was a “relief”.<\/p>\n
In a statement released on Monday, the ex-king’s lawyers said he had “learnt the results of the DNA test… [and] the scientific conclusions indicate that he is the biological father of Mrs Delphine Bo\u00ebl”.<\/p>\n
The lawyers said the 85-year-old had decided to halt the legal battle, which had dragged on since 2013, and he now “accepts Delphine Bo\u00ebl becomes his fourth child”.<\/p>\n
Ms Bo\u00ebl’s lawyer, Marc Uyttendaele, told RTL television “her life has been a long nightmare because of this quest for identity”.<\/p>\n
He added: “She had a biological father who brutally rejected her when this paternity [case] publicly emerged”. He added that she launched the legal fight “to avoid her children carrying this weight”.<\/p>\n
In May last year, the Brussels appeals court ruled the ex-king should be penalised \u20ac5,000 (\u00a34,370) a day for refusing to take the test.<\/p>\n
Rumours that the king had an illegitimate child first emerged in 1999 in an unauthorised biography about his wife. The allegation prompted a royal scandal and enduring media gossip in Belgium.<\/p>\n
Ms Bo\u00ebl first alleged on the record that King Albert was her biological father during a 2005 interview.<\/p>\n
Her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, has claimed the two had an affair between 1966 and 1984 when he was still Prince Albert of Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n
However, following his older brother’s death in 1993 at 62, he unexpectedly came to the throne.<\/p>\n
He held the position until July 2013, when he announced his abdication – citing ill health – and was replaced by his son, Philippe. He is said to receive an annual income of about \u20ac1m.<\/p>\n
Shortly after his abdication, Ms Bo\u00ebl opened court proceedings.<\/p>\n
Last year, he refused to fulfil a 2018 court order to undergo DNA testing and he launched an appeal.<\/p>\n
A court had initially set a three-month limit for him to provide a saliva sample for testing – saying that without it, Ms Bo\u00ebl would be assumed to be his daughter and could be eligible for an inheritance.<\/p>\n
Belgium has a constitutional monarchy in which the king plays a largely ceremonial role.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"