The origins of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha go back more than a thousand years. Throughout all those centuries of wars, conquests, pacts and marriages, the different branches of this Germanic family managed to ascend to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland and even Mexico.
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King Albert of Belgium admits that Delphine Böel is his biological daughter
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The culmination of her rise came in 1840, when Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her nine children and twenty-six of her forty-two grandchildren married other European royalty or nobility, uniting them with each other and creating what is now known as "the great royal family." This earned Victoria the nickname "Europe's grandmother." For example, the blood of the Saxe-Coburg family runs through the veins of Felipe VI, since he is a great-great-grandson of Princess Beatrix of the United Kingdom, the youngest of the nine children of the British monarch.
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For a week now, the great Saxony family has a new and unexpected member. On January 27, King Albert II of Belgium acknowledged being the father of Delphine Boël. The fifty-one-year-old artist had spent two decades fighting in the courts and in the media for the monarch to admit her paternity.
Although Alberto II has recognized Delphine as his daughter through a statement, the relationship is still not strictly legal. “That statement was his reaction to a preliminary report sent by the expert to the parties. But it is not part of the legal proceedings," explains Alain De Jonge, Boël's lawyer, to HELLO! "On June 4, 2020, at 2:30 p.m., the arguments will be heard. The court will then issue a judgment, which will probably declare that King Albert II is the father of my client. This will be the end of the legal proceedings”, adds the lawyer. No surprises are expected at the hearing, as the Belgian king emeritus has already announced that he "will give up any additional form of defense."
Then, when justice formalizes the kinship, Delphine Boël will officially become part of one of the oldest and most powerful dynasties on the continent. However, she doesn't seem to have "royal" pretensions. “He will not play any role within the Belgian royal family. It will not have a title. He will not appear in the line of succession to the throne either ”, clarifies De Jonge.
Typically, Delphine would change her last name, Boël, to that of her legal father, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. However, she does not aspire to it either. “This has not yet been decided. She has the option to do it. You can ask that they not change your name (Boël), or you can ask that they give you your father's name," De Jonge tells HELLO!. "As an artist, he will continue to use the name Delphine, just as he has done up to now." .
It would not be the first time that a member of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family decided to renounce the surname. During World War I, King George V of the United Kingdom changed the name of the British branch to Windsor, in keeping with the Germanophobic sentiment of the time. A century later, Delphine Boël returns to make history within one of the oldest and most fascinating sagas in the world.
Click to see the documentary by Paola from Belgium, her monographic chapter of the Royals series. You can see more on the new video platform HELLO! PLAY, where you will find cooking, fashion, decoration programs and biographical documentaries of 'royals' and 'celebrities'. Do not miss it!
