WOULD THE TRUTH HAVE COME OUT IF IT WERE NOT FOR THIS BOOK? PAOLA by MARIO DANNEELS

The author was a teenager when he started researching.  An unknown without royal connections, Mario Danneels just thought that Queen Paola was an interesting person who he wanted to write a biography of. Maybe because he was so young he was not thought to be a threat. Soon rumors reached his ears that the King had a love child, Delphine, and that it was an Open Secret. Though the fact was briefly stated in a one-liner in the book, it broke the story and scandal. Mario Danneels continues to be a journalist today. but reportedly lives in Ireland.  Published in 1999, he was working on this book for many years.

Titled "Paola From La Dolce Vita To Queen," I'm sorry to say that I was unable to obtain a copy to read it.  

Born Donna Paola Margherita Maria Antonia Consiglia Ruffo do Calabria, in 1937, this Italian Catholic woman's beauty in the 1950's was compared to that of actress turned Princess, Grace Kelly. The Queen is not just a beautiful woman, but also a devout Catholic who has many talents and interests.

\ROYAL CENTRAL WHO IS QUEEN PAOLA OF BELGIUM

EXCERPT:  It is during this period that Prince Albert is believed to have fathered Dephine Boel (according to her own claims) with Sybille de Selys Longchamps.  it is also believed that in this period, Princess Paola herself was also seeing other men.  However, despite the struggles the pair have faced in their marriage, their relationship improved from the early 1980's, and the couple has chosen to stay together.  In an interview for her 70th birthday in 2007, Paola addressed the subject, saying, "We've had our problems but now we both say that we were meant for each other. We are very happy now.

... About her wedding, when it was thought that Albert's brother was the one who would become King...

EXCERPT: The Royal Household originally wanted to plan a Vatican wedding, with a blessing by Pope John XXIII, however, despite the diplomatic mission to the Pontifical court being led by the groom's father, former King Leopold III of Belgium, his aunt the exiled Queen Marie-Joe of Italy and the bride's brother, Prince Ruffo, the Belgian government denied the wishes of the court and refused to accept the proposal.  The Pope understood the government's concern, never agreeing to partake in the wedding ceremony.  After some deliberation, an international scandal was avoided as the wedding was planned to take place on Belgian soil.

...I have the notion that King Albert II and his wife also felt after such close ties with the Vatican that they could not divorce and be bad examples...

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DELPHINE IS TRIUMPHANT and HAS A FIRST MEETING WITH EMERITUS KING ALBERT II and QUEEN PAO

Delphine Boel is now PRINCESS DELPHINE of BELGIUM (Delphine Michele Anne Marie Ghislaine de Saxe-Cobourg)  Because of her mother's rank in the aristocracy of Belgium she was already considered to be of nobility.  The article linked to below is about all being forgiven after years of denial and court battle.

Her daughter is now Princess Josephine and her son is now Prince Oscar.

This article from THE NEW YORK TIMES : BELGIUM'S PRINCESS DELPHINE MEETS WITH HER FATHER by Megan Specia... from October 2020

EXCERPT: ... Ms. Boel, 52, who was awarded the right to use the royal title Princess Delphine this  month, formally met with her father and his wife, Queen Paola.

A statement jointly issued by Princess Delphine, King Albert II, 86, and Queen Paola, 83, said their meeting had opened a new chapter "full of emotion, understanding and , also, hope."

...

"After the tumult, the wounds and the suffering, comes the time of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation," the statement read.  "This is the patient, sometimes difficult path that we have decided to take resolutely together.  Thee first steps pave the peaceful course which it is now up to us to pursue."

I note that Delphine, who was born in 1968, was seventeen when her mother told her that King Albert II was her birth father.  Until then her mother told her that he was a best friend.

A BELGIUM KING OR FORMER KING HAS NEVER BEEN BROUGHT TO JUSTICE IN BELGIAN HISTORY

In this Vanity Fair article from the January 2020 edition, writer Erin Vanderhoof, which came out before the decision, it says that Dephine would not receive a title or be in the line of succession to the throne.  I think that she is now a Princess but prefers not to use a title and it's true the succession was not an issue between her and her birth father's family.

VANITY FAIR BELGIUM KING ALBERT II DNA TEST PATERNITY 

 EXCERPT:  Longchamps (i.e. Sybille de Selys Longchamps) claims that Albert was not furious when she became pregnant, and that he even sent flowers after her (giving)birth. "It was a beautiful period," she said. "Delphine was a love child. Albert was not the father figure, but he was very sweet to her."

(The legal wrangling went on seven years.)

It doesn't necessarily end all of the legal wrangling: Boel may still be entitled to a portion of Albert's fortune that has been estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  But it does end the portion of the case that might have had a constitutional impact had Albert refused the test, because a king or former king has never been brought to justice in Belgian history.

THE ARTIST DELPHINE TELLS 60 MINUTES HER STORY

From November 2020  60 Minutes Australia

"I will always stay an artist."  Delphine   She is a painter and sculptor.

COVERAGE OF THE COURT HEARING FOR DELPHINE BOEL's PATERNITY

PURETREND MAGAZINE : LA BARONNE SYBILLE DE SELYS (Coverage of the Court Hearings for Delphines' Paternity) has picture goods and is in French by Catherine Brezeky.

I will EXCERPT in English. 

(Delphine is age 48.)

It is therefore now in court that the case is played.  And it turns out to be rather complicated.  Indeed, the father of the current King, Philippe of Belgium, opposes the practice of a paternity test to determine whether or not Delphine Boel is indeed his daughter.  Jacques Boel, the "father" of the complainant did it and the result is clear" she is not his biological descendant.

... According to her, it would result from the bond maintained for ten years between her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchanps and the ex-sovereign in the 1960's But it is without counting on the negations of Albert II, who refuses to recognize her as his legitimate child.

NOTE; Elsewhere I have seen it stated that the relationship was 18 years long but as this has translated to 10, I will not correct or challenge that here.

THE BARONESS SYBILLE DE SELYS LONGCHAMPS SPEAKS

FLANDERS NEWS :ALBERT WANTED TO GO AND LIVE IN THE UK  From September 2013.  A good picture of Sybille too.

Note that a Baroness in Great Britain is referred to as Lady. This article, in French, will be EXCERPTED by me in English. The baroness also heard the conditions for any possible divorce.  Albert would have to give up his rights in the line of succession and share his grant with Paola.  The baroness would also be banned from seeing Albert's children.  

"When I read this I understood he was getting divorced because of me.  It would never have worked.  I didn't want responsibility for destabilizing the crown.  The fate of the country was more important than my fate."

The article goes on to say that the King's brother signed the divorce papers so he did not stop it.  It was she who decided not to go forward.  She also says the Catholic Church was involved in the King and Queen's marriage.

KING ALBERT OF BELGIUM HAS A LOVE CHILD

NEW YORK TIMES : KING ALBERT II OF BELGIUM ACKNOWLEDGES LOVE CHILD

It took a DNA test but Delphine Boel, an artist, has proven that her mother Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps and King Albert II of Belgium are her parents.

EXCERPT:  Ms. Boel, 51, is a Belgian visual artist who has claimed for years that she was conceived during an affair in the 1960's between her mother, Baroness Sybille de Delys Longchamps, and Albert, who was then a prince and married to Paola Ruffo di Calabria, an Italian princess.  Prince Albert and his wife already had three children.

Rumors of an illegitimate child were first alluded to in a 1999 book about Queen Paola by a journalist, Mario Danneels, and Ms. Boel made her first public claim that King Albert was her father in a 2005 interview.

I want a copy!