Delphine Boël

Princess Delphine of Belgium (''Delphine Michèle Anne Marie Ghislaine de Saxe-Cobourg''; born 22 February 1968), known previously as ''Jonkvrouw'' Delphine Boël, is a Belgian artist and member of the Belgian royal family. She is the daughter of King Albert II of Belgium with Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, and the half-sister of King Philippe of Belgium. On 1 October 2020, she was lawfully recognised as Princess of Belgium with the style "Her Royal Highness". Earlier, she had belonged to the Belgian titled nobility and was legally Jonkvrouw.

Early life and career

Princess Delphine is the daughter of Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, whose first husband was a Belgian nobleman and industrialist Jonkheer Jacques Boël. They divorced in 1978. Her biological father is King Albert II of Belgium.

Delphine attended boarding school in England and Switzerland, and studied at the Chelsea School of Art and Design in London, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in fine arts (with honours) in 1990. She has been a guest lecturer at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK), Antwerp, and the Maastricht Art School.

She is the founding patron of the Princess Delphine of Saxe-Coburg Fund based at Ghent University Hospital, promoting the use of art in health care. The Belgian brewery Struise produced a "Cuvée Delphine" beer for which she designed the artwork for the bottle label. Her sculpture ''Ageless Love'' is in the Gerdapark, Sint-Niklaas. In 2021, she designed the decoration of the Lamborghini Art Car.

Personal life

James (Jim) O'Hare, an American of Irish descent, has been Delphine's partner since 2000. The couple have two children, Princess Joséphine of Belgium (born 17 October 2003) and Prince Oscar of Belgium (born 28 April 2008).

Paternity case

On 19 October 1999, an 18-year-old Flemish schoolboy, Mario Danneels, published his unauthorized biography of Queen Paola, (''Paola, from 'la dolce vita' to Queen''). The book contained a statement referring to the existence of a daughter born out of wedlock to King Albert. The Belgian press investigated, and traced Delphine. At first, both Boël and her mother refused to comment on the matter, and the palace dismissed Danneels' book as gossip and rumor.

The Belgian press interpreted a short passage the king's 1999 Christmas speech as acknowledgement that Delphine Boël was, in fact, his natural daughter:

Christmas is a time for each of us to think of our family, of the happy periods but also the difficult times. The Queen and I remember very happy times, but also the crisis that we experienced more than 30 years ago. Together we could, over a long time, overcome those difficulties and recover a deep understanding and love for each other. This period was recalled to us recently. We don't wish to dwell on that subject which belongs to our private lives. But, if those who encounter similar difficulties today could get some encouragement from our own experiences, we would be very happy.

The press interpreted this to refer to the king's 18-year-long relationship with Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps.

Boël gave an interview on 15 May 2005, to the France 3 presenter Marc-Olivier Fogiel in the broadcast "On ne peut pas plaire à tout le monde" (''You Can't Please Everyone'') in which she alleged for the first time that she was King Albert's daughter. She claimed that when she and her mother moved to England, when she was 9, Albert (not yet king) wished to divorce his wife and join them. Her mother apparently opposed this because of the political consequences for Albert. She said her mother told her the truth about her parentage when she became 17. In her upcoming interviews, Boël said she made a telephone call to Albert when she was 33 years old asking for help. According to her statement, he replied "Never call me again. You are not my daughter," which she said was hurtful. Boël added that her efforts to contact her father via telephone and sending letters or through friends and politicians failed.

In June 2013, when King Albert lost his immunity to prosecution, Boël summoned him and his children Prince Philippe and Princess Astrid to appear in court. She hoped to use DNA tests to prove that she was the king's daughter. As king, Albert was immune under the law, and Delphine decided to summon her half-siblings too. When the king abdicated on 21 July 2013 his immunity ceased, and Boël relaunched proceedings against him. In March 2017, the court ruled that her claim was unfounded, and her lawyers said she would take the claim to appeal.

On 5 November 2018, a court ruling was published which instructed Albert to submit to a DNA test to determine whether he was Boël's biological father. DNA testing is not obligatory in Belgium, but not submitting to it is considered evidence of paternity. In January 2019, Albert appealed in cassation against the verdict, but on 16 May of the same year, the Brussels's Court of Appeals ordered the former king to pay a fine of 5000 Euros a day to Boël for every day he refused to take a DNA-test.

On 27 January 2020, the DNA tests showed that King Albert II is the father of Delphine Boël. In October 2020, she and her children were granted princely titles by the Belgian court of appeals. As she was born out of wedlock, Princess Delphine and her descendants are not in the line of succession to the Belgian throne. Although court costs totalling €3.4m were awarded to her on a substantial indemnity basis, she was not granted a royal endowment.

She and her half-brother, King Philippe of Belgium, met on 9 October 2020 at the Palace of Laeken.
The next day, King Albert II reacted in a press release, rejoicing over the meeting and stating "My wife and I are very happy by the initiative of the King, presage of happier days for all and in particular for Delphine."

On 25 October 2020, she was received at Belvédère Castle by her father and his wife, Queen Paola. At the occasion of the Belgian National Day on 21 July 2021 she and her partner joined the royal family at the military parade for the first time.

Titles and styles

Delphine and her children have been granted the titles of prince and princess of Belgium with the style of Royal Highness following a court decision of 1 October 2020. Earlier she had been styled as ''Jonkvrouw'' Delphine Boël.

Arms

nl, Eendracht maakt macht
german: Einigkeit macht stark
, other_elements = The whole is placed on a mantle purpure with ermine lining, fringes and tassels or and ensigned with the Royal crown of Belgium.

Notable published works

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References

External links

Fogiel's interview
reported on 19 May 2005 by Michel Bouffioux.

Interview with Sybille de Selys Longchamps
by Michel Bouffioux, June 2005.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delphine of Belgium
1968 births
Living people
20th-century Belgian women artists
21st-century Belgian women artists
Alumni of Institut Le Rosey
Belgian princesses
Belgian nobility
Belgian women sculptors
Illegitimate children of monarchs
House of Belgium
Daughters of kings