The Royalty Nerd

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The sometimes controversial Princess Delphine of Belgium turns 56 today, so I thought I would provide an introduction for the unfamiliar.

Jonkvrouw Delphine Boël was born February 22nd, 1968 to Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps. While she was raised by her mother and her husband, Jonkheer Jacques Boël, her biological father is King Albert II, former King of the Belgians. Why am I calling them Jonkvrouw/Jonkheer, you ask? Because Jacques Boël and Delphine are both part of the titled Belgian nobility. So was, in fact, Queen Mathilde.

Rumours had been swirling about an alleged affair, but it was in 1999 that the rumours really took hold, in a biography about Queen Paola, Albert’s wife.

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Delphine and her mother had no comment to make when these rumours were first circulated; but that changed when in 2005, Delphine went on record to address the issue and alleged that she was indeed Albert’s biological child. Her attempts to contact Albert via politicians, letters, and phone calls hit a wall.

In June of 2013, Delphine was able to summon Albert to court for a paternity test. However, as King, Albert was immune, and so Delphine summoned two of her half siblings: the then Prince Philippe, and Princess Astrid.

Albert would come to abdicate the throne only a month later, which therefore ended his immunity. It still wasn’t a straight forward trip to the courthouse; court proceedings against Albert were shut down because Delphine could not prove that Jacques Boël was not her biological father. He submitted DNA for testing as well, showing that he is not biologically related to Delphine.

Now this is where I ask for some grace. I am definitely not an expert on Belgian law and am working with translated articles. I did my best to figure out the wording here: Belgian courts still ruled against her in 2017, stating that Jacques is legally her father and cited the Constitutional Court regarding “ownership of state”, meaning: Jacques had a history of acting as a parent for Delphine.

Delphine chose to appeal, and in November of 2018, Albert was summoned for DNA testing, which he then appealed as well, in January of 2019. That appeal was overruled, and he was to be fined 5000 euros daily until he submitted to a DNA test. He, rather begrudgingly, relented.

And what a surprise, the DNA tests came back positive: King Albert II is indeed Delphine’s biological father.

Above, she is pictured with Albert and Queen Paola.

In 2020, Delphine and her two children, Josephine and Oscar, were granted the titles of Princess/Prince of Belgium. Her husband, James (pictured below), did not receive a title. They are also not in the line of succession.

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Delphine regularly attends events with the family, such as Belgium’s National Day celebrations and the annual day of mass for deceased members of Belgium’s royal family, which actually took place just this week:

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Delphine continues to make headlines: recently it was revealed that she has gone to the government with complaints of being treated unfairly, saying that she is invited to some events (like the ones I presented above) and not others. A letter from her lawyer revealed that she has taken the issue up with King Philippe’s cabinet twice, but they referred her to the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister responded saying that it was ‘clear as pump water’ why Delphine was not invited to certain events: she is not a working royal nor does she receive an allowance, unlike her half-siblings Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent. Delphine later stated that she was upset that the letter leaked as it was private, but that she stands by her feelings.

There was another a stir when she gave an interview with Tatler, where she spoke about the Belgian press, stating: ‘I’m looked upon as very authentic and generous with my charities… I think they compare me now to Princess Diana because they see me as a bit of a princess of the heart.’  

This was picked up by the Daily Mail (of course), who then published a piece regarding Delphine and the quote. This led to Delphine firing back, stating that she was misquoted and that she never compared herself to Diana.

Delphine was also caught up with another Princess of Wales, this time concerning clothing. The current Princess of Wales wore an Andrew Gn coat dress for Trooping the Colour in June 2023. In July 2023, Delphine wore an Atelier ExC design to Belgium’s National Day military parade. You can see the two outfits below and decide for yourself on the similarities. Andrew Gn certainly felt that it was close enough to his work to call it a ‘shameless copy’ .

Controversies and headlines aside, Princess Delphine is many things: an artist, a mother, a sibling, a daughter, but most definitely: a Belgian Princess.