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Delphine Boel, here in February 2017, sued King Albert II for recognition of his paternity. REUTERS / Francois Lenoir

A Belgian artist, born in 1968, asked former King Albert II, 84, to recognize her as a father. She managed to force him, on October 25 in court, to do a DNA test within three months. The sovereign reserves the possibility of an appeal in cassation. "The Boel case", since 1999, remains a "people" soap opera with twists and turns.

Why, in 1999, did Belgian newspapers present Delphine Boël, a renowned visual artist, then 31, as the illegitimate daughter of King Albert II? After a long relationship with Baroness Sybille Selys Longchamps, Delphine Boel had until then lived in the shadows. After being raised in England in 1976 by her mother and her husband, Jacques Boël, a squire, company administrator and descendant of a family of industrialists, until their divorce in 1978, she followed the school career of jet-set and aristocracy, in private boarding schools in England and Switzerland. His mother only reveals to him at 18 his filiation, which remains secret in Belgium.

It all started with an unauthorized biography of Queen Paola in 1999, made by a young flemish, Mario Danneels. The book evokes the existence of an illegitimate daughter of King Albert II. The Palace the tax of " gossip ". The same year, however, the king recognizes half-heartedly in his Christmas speech having experienced a marital crisis in the 1970s. " This Christmas party is also an opportunity for all of us to think about our families, his happy times and his difficult moments. The Queen and I remember happy times, but also the crisis that our couple experienced more than 30 years ago. (...) This period has been recalled recently. We do not wish to dwell on this subject which belongs to our private lives .

It does not take more for the press people to start investigating, then rush to the door Delphine Boel, London. His resemblance to Albert II is extensively commented. Her mother has only come out of her silence twice. She poses in 2013 with her daughter on the cover of Paris-Match Belgium , and pleads for the recognition of her daughter. The second time, in the televised documentary " Our daughter Delphine " broadcast last September, she makes very harsh remarks about the family life of Albert and Paola, a queen deemed irascible and too harsh with regard to her children.

From the newspapers people to justice

For its part, Delphine Boël published in 2008 an autobiography entitled Cut the Cord (Editions Luc Pire). It breaks the taboo on its origin, evokes the silence that surrounded his birth, then his fight to be recognized in art, besides the sudden notoriety that his "business" has valued him, disrupting his life.

After having exhausted all the amicable steps behind the scenes, Delphine Boel finally took legal action in 2013. The abdication of King Albert II in favor of his heir Prince Philip lifts his immunity and makes him justiciable. The artist did not accept the offer made to him by the Royal Palace that year, which corresponds to the abdication of Albert II in favor of his heir Prince Philip. It was a question of providing him with a handwritten and sealed letter signed by the King recognizing it, but which could not have been opened until his death, without consequence on his civil status. Too "fuzzy," said the complainant.

Money is not the issue of these approaches, but rather recognition. King Albert II cut the bridges in 2001 with Delphine Boël, who telephoned him, she says, for a long time. Nevertheless, the press is concerned about inheritance. As the Belgian law forbids the disinheritance of her children, whether legitimate or not, the illegitimate daughter of the king is entitled in principle to her share of a fortune estimated at a low of 12.4 million euros. This is at least the figure advanced by the Palace in 2010, underestimated by some experts. It understands the value of a yacht and a villa in the south of France. For the moment, each of the three children of Albert II and Paola, the current king Philippe, his brother Laurent and his sister Astrid, could thus touch more than 4 million euros. If Delphine Boël is recognized, the share of the cake would be reduced to 3 million euros for each.

Pressure of public opinion

Delphine Boël's first civil complaint in 2013 was unsuccessful. On appeal, however, it has been shown that Jacques Boël is Delphine Boël's father " neither in law nor in fact ". This man complied with a paternity DNA test, which revealed his lack of a biological link with the girl he raised. The Court of Appeal gave King Albert II three months to do a paternity test.

The lawyer of the former king answered on the mode of "neither yes, nor no", announcing that a lawyer to the Court of Cassation would be consulted to evaluate the possibilities of breaking the judgment on appeal.

Specialists in royal affairs recommend that he recognize his daughter - as soon as possible, since he is ill - so that dirty laundry is never washed in the family. Social pressure is strong on this case. The philosopher Daniel Salvatore Schiffer had already called in 2013, in a tribune , the former king to recognize his daughter: " An artist today globally recognized, except, obviously and very paradoxically, by his own father, Albert II! "Polls in 2013 gave 80% favorable opinions to Delphine Boel in his lawsuit. The case undoubtedly reveals two facets of Belgium, on the one hand, an open-minded opinion, and on the other, a kingship engulfed in the impeccable image that it believes it must give.