Belgian justice ruled on Thursday in Delphine Boël, long hidden daughter of the former King Albert II.

The title of princess and the name of Saxe-Cobourg have therefore been granted to this visual artist now aged 52, born of the nearly twenty-year affair that her father had with Sibylle de Sélys Longchamps.

She had fought for seven years to have her filiation and her rights recognized.

Delphine Boël, long hidden daughter of the ex-King of the Belgians Albert II, saw her fight crowned with success: justice granted her the title of princess and the name of Saxe-Coburg.

The judgment rendered Thursday by the Brussels Court of Appeal "gives him full satisfaction", reacted his lawyer Marc Uyttendaele by confirming a decision that fell four weeks before the date announced and revealed by the RTBF channel.

During the final hearing of a long series with twists and turns, on September 10, Albert II's lawyers had contested that she could demand the title of princess.

A long-denied parentage

A 52-year-old plastic artist, Delphine Boël was born from the almost twenty-year relationship that her mother, Sibylle de Sélys Longchamps, had with Albert in the 1960s and 1970s.

The latter was then crown prince, married since 1959 with the future queen Paola.

The former ruler - on the throne from 1993 to 2013 and father of the current king, Philippe - denied this parentage for years, until the courts forced him to undergo a DNA test in 2019. The test result finally came out. was made public at its initiative on January 27.

"The scientific conclusions indicate that he is the biological father of Madame Delphine Boël", then announced his lawyers Mes Alain Berenboom and Guy Hiernaux.

Now Delphine Boël "wants to have exactly the same prerogatives, titles and qualities as her two brothers (Philippe and Laurent) and her sister" (Astrid), explained in September Me Uyttendaele.

"She does not want to be a child on the cheap", he had hammered.

Delphine Boël, who had renounced the surname of Jacques Boël, the husband of her mother, will henceforth be named "Her Royal Highness Delphine of Saxe-Cobourg", ruled Thursday the court of appeal. 

Recognition of paternity has "changed his life"

"The court affirms that King Albert II is her father and that she will henceforth bear the patronymic name of Saxe-Coburg", commented Me Uyttendaele in a press release.

The content of the decision was confirmed to AFP by a judicial source who specified that his children, adolescents, "will also be Prince and Princess of Belgium".

Delphine Boël's demands "for her to be treated on the same footing as her brothers and sister have been met," according to her lawyer.

"This judicial victory will never replace the love of a father but offers a feeling of justice, further reinforced by the fact that many children who have gone through the same ordeals will find the strength to face them there," he added. Me Uyttendaele.

In August, during a meeting with AFP, Delphine Boël assured that the recognition of paternity acquired in January had "really changed (his) life".

The existence of the king's hidden daughter was revealed in 1999 by a journalist.

"I was Albert II's dirty laundry," the visual artist told AFP.

She had refused to say what she expected from the last act of the long legal standoff, initiated in 2013 after the failure of an attempt at conciliation.

She is due to speak to the press next Monday with her lawyers.