Former Belgian king's love child goes to court for same rights and titles as royal half-siblings

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The love child of a former king of Belgium has gone to court in an attempt to gain the same rights and titles as her royal half-siblings.

Delphine Boël, a 52-year-old artist, forced King Albert II to admit that he fathered a child during an affair in the 1960s after a DNA test showed she was his daughter earlier this year.

Ms Boël has now taken her case to the appeals court in Brussels to receive formal recognition as the former king’s child.

Rumours about Albert’s love child emerged after a 1999 biography of his wife, Queen Paola, which referred to an affair and the birth of a girl in the late 1960s.

Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, Ms Boël’s mother, claimed she had an 18-year-long affair with Albert before he was king.

The former monarch, who abdicated in 2013 for health reasons, had long denied the paternity claim which was first alleged on record during an interview in 2005.

Ms Boël’s lawyer Marc Uyttendaele said she was seeking the same rights as Albert’s three other children, including Philippe, the current king of Belgium.

If the legal challenge is successful, Ms Boël’s children could also receive the title of prince or princess of Belgium.

“Delphine's position isn't that she wants or doesn't want to be princess,” Mr Uyttendaele said.

“She doesn't want to be a cut-price child, she wants to have exactly the same privileges, titles and capacities as her brothers and her sister.”

Alain Berenboom, the king's legal counsel, said he had discussed the case with Ms Boël and believed it was an “administrative procedure” rather than a judicial one.

“As far as the title is concerned, it is not a prerogative of the court but a prerogative of the executive power, in our opinion,” Mr Berenboom said, indicating the title of princess could only be given by royal decree.

Following the former king’s admission of parenthood in January, Mr Uyttendaele said Ms Boël’s life had been “a long nightmare because of this quest for identity”.