DNA Test Is In, and Ex-King Says Woman Is His Daughter

Accepting the findings of a court-ordered DNA test, Belgium's former King Albert II conceded Monday that woman he's fought a legal battle with for years is his daughter. "The scientific conclusions show that he is the biological father of Mrs. Delphine Boël," his lawyer said in a statement. Boël, 51, could be in line for one-eighth of Albert's estate, the Guardian reports. She can also call herself a royal princess. Albert, 85, abdicated in 2013, saying he'd become too frail for the mostly ceremonial job of king. He had long denied having an affair or a child, then seemed to say otherwise in a 1999 Christmas speech, per the Telegraph. "The queen and I have remembered very happy periods," he said, "but also the crisis that our couple has experienced more than 30 years ago." A biography of Queen Paola had brought up the subject, per the AP.

Albert lost legal immunity when he abdicated, and Boël restarted her court fight. Last fall, a court ruled that Boël's legal father, Jacques, is not her biological father and ordered DNA tests. Sybille de Selys Longchamps, Boël's mother, discussed her long affair with Albert in an 2013 interview. "I thought I could not have children because I had had an infection," she said. "It was a beautiful period. Delphine was a love child. Albert was not the father figure but he was very sweet to her." (More King Albert stories.)