| Delphine Boël | |
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Delphine Boël at a book signing (2008) |
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| Born | 22 February 1968 |
| Children | Joséphine Boël O'Hare (b. 2003) Oscar Boël O'Hare (b. 2008) |
| Parents | Jacques Boël (b. 1929) (allegedly) Albert II of Belgium (b. 1934) Sybille de Selys Longchamps (b. 1941) |
Delphine Michèle Anne Marie Ghislaine Boël (Uccle 22 February 1968) is a Belgian artist who specializes in papier maché sculpture. She is alleged to be the illegitimate daughter of Albert II of Belgium. Sometimes in the media Delphine is incorrectly titled as a Baroness, because of her mother's title. She belongs to the Belgian nobility through her legal father, but with no other title than the title of 'Ecuyère' (in Dutch: Jonkvrouw) of which the English equivalent could be 'Esquire'.
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She is the daughter of Sybille, Baroness de Selys Longchamps (°1941), whose husband was Jacques Boël (°1929), scion of a family of industrialists. Her parents divorced in 1978 and her mother married again in 1982 with the Honorable Michael-Anthony Rathmore Cayzer (of the Barons Rotherwick of Tylney) (1929–1990). Mother and daughter moved to London and to the large estate of the new husband, in Rotherwick. Her father remarried in 2001 with the divorcee Diane de Woot de Trixhe de Jannée (°1943)
Delphine attended an international boarding school in Switzerland and studied at the Chelsea School of Art and Design in London, where she obtained a B.A. fine arts in 1990.
Delphine and her Irish-American partner, James O'Hare, have a daughter, Joséphine (born on 17 October 2003),[1] and a son, Oscar (born on 28 April 2008).[2]
On 19 October 1999, an 18-year-old Flemish schoolboy,[3] Mario Danneels (Dutch), published his unauthorised biography of Queen Paola, Paola, van 'la dolce vita' tot koningin (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 seized upon this statement and made investigations into the identity of this daughter, tracing Delphine Boël. At first, both Delphine and her mother refused to comment on the matter, and the Palace dismissed Danneels' book as gossip and rumours.
The main element considered by the Belgian press as acknowledgment that Delphine is the King's daughter is a short extract from the King's 1999 Christmas speech:
This Christmas feast is also the occasion for each of us to think to one's own family, to one's happy periods but also to one's difficult moments. The Queen and I have remembered very happy periods but also the crisis that our couple have experienced more than 30 years ago. Together we could, very longtime ago already, surpass those difficulties and find back a deep understanding and love. This period have been recalled to us short ago. We don't wish to dwell ("nous apesantir" in French) on that subject which belongs to our private lives. But, if certain people who meet today similar problems could get some reasons to hope from our lived experience, we would be so happy.
The press interpret this to refer to the King's affair with Sybille de Sélys Longchamps.
Delphine gave an interview on 15 May 2005, to the France 3 presenter Marc-Olivier Fogiel (French) in the broadcast "On ne peut pas plaire à tout le monde" in which she said that she is indeed the daughter of the King. She said she made a telephone call to King Albert II in order to receive help for her mother who was being harassed by journalists. According to her statement, the King replied "Leave me alone with that story. You are not my daughter." which she said was hurtful. She said she felt the absence of contact from him, especially since she is a mother herself. In the same interview, she alleged that when she and her mother moved to England when she was 9, the then Crown Prince Albert wished to divorce Princess Paola and join them. Her mother apparently opposed this because of the political consequences for prince Albert. Delphine added that her "parents" kept in touch by telephone for some years, but that this stopped some time before she was 16 (1984). She said her mother told her "the truth" about her parentage when she turned 18, in 1986.
Although King Albert does not acknowledge that he is her father, Delphine's paternity link with the King is often considered as a fact by the press and by the Belgian people. She is sometimes compared with Mazarine Pingeot, the illegitimate daughter of former French President François Mitterrand. She is said to be in touch with Prince Laurent of Belgium, who never denied formally allegations from the newspaper De Morgen re. his father either.
There has been no formal proof of Delphine Boël's claim, as a paternity test has not been carried out. However, some people have pointed out that in their view there is a striking resemblance between Delphine Boël and Queen Astrid, Albert II's mother, but much less with Prince Laurent.