Exclusive Documentary: King Philip’s Personal and Candid Interviews

By our entertainment editors

Dec 11, 2023 at 11:12 AM Update: 11 minutes ago

Members of the Belgian royal family are generally less vocal than their Dutch colleagues. But King Philip makes an exception for a documentary about his life that will soon be broadcast in Belgium.

In Philip, a year with the king of the Belgians, the Belgian monarch talks about his youth and kingship, among other things. The two-hour documentary was made by director Nicolas Delvaulx and will be broadcast on December 18 by VRT and RTBF.

In the documentary, Filip says, among other things, that he realized at an early age that his life was “not easy”. “The certainty I had was that I would never let myself go,” says the king. “I was different, a little bit different.”

In total, Delvaulx was allowed to have ten personal conversations with the king. “At first I was only allowed to film what the rest of the press was allowed to film,” he says. “Until I said that I can’t make something more personal if I can’t have a dialogue with the king. And after that, the two of us had many moments.”

Koning initially did not give permission for interviews to be broadcast

Part of it was in principle intended as background conversation, but Delvaulx was convinced that the king himself could best tell about his life. That’s why the director asked if he could use the recordings after all.

“The king first said no. In principle that is not allowed,” says the director, who then made a montage and showed it to the king. Then the monarch still agreed. “I think that’s what gives the film its power.”

It is precisely the fact that some of the conversations were not actually intended for publication that makes the documentary so real, according to Delvaulx. “We hear what he is like,” says the director. “That is the power of the film. There is a sincerity. What is special is that I was allowed to ask all the questions I wanted. There was no censorship, no: oh no, not that. I was able to capture the raw truth.”

Image: ANP

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2023-12-11 10:12:09
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