Delphine is ready: ‘I was the troublemaker, now I can really live’ | Entertainment

entertainment">“I was always a bit scandalous, the dirty laundry, the troublemaker. Thanks to the legal system that proved me right, that confirmed that I did the right thing, it is as if I can really live now. I exist. And above all, I have the right to exist, ”said Delphine of Saxe-Coburg, looking back on many years of legal battle for recognition of the paternity of the king, who has been retired since 2013.

entertainment">At the age of seventeen, Delphine, now 52, ​​learned from her mother Sybille de Selys Longchamps who her biological father was. At that time she was still in contact with Albert, at that time still Prince of Liège and not a king. She slammed the door when her existence was brought to light in 1999 in a sub-clause in a biography about Albert’s wife Queen Paola. The stubborn denial of her existence drove Delphine, now married herself and the mother of two children, to take legal action against her father.

Disrupted

entertainment">“When I started, I was totally devastated. I never thought it had to come to this. I kept thinking that Albert would make a gesture, that he would say that it might be a good idea to be in touch, to see how we could work it out together, ”Delphine said. “But on our last phone call, he said I was not his daughter. That made me decide to go to court. That it would determine whether I was right or not. ”

entertainment">Albert continued to deny until the beginning of this year. However, a court-ordered DNA test gave him no choice and in January he announced that he was indeed Delphine’s father. But there was no connection, he added coolly. This led to her increasing her demands and asking for equal treatment with her half-brothers and half-sister, including the title and designation ‘royal highness’. All those demands were granted by the court. “It is done with that. I can reassure anyone who is now nervous: I am not asking anything more. ”

–