Not that everyone didn't know it, but it took ages before Albert finally admitted he has an illegitimate daughter. About twenty years, for that matter. In 1999, a book was published in which the author suggested Albert had a love child with his then mistress. Not very long afterward, this Delphine started her crusade to be recognized by the king.
She always claimed she didn't do it for the money. The man who gave her a name is one of the richest in Belgium, and as sole daughter of him she'd inherit a whole lot of money. Now she gets only 1/8 of Albert's inheritance (in Belgium, half of the inheritance goes to the widow/widower, and the other half needs to be shared by the children of the couple). Albert has 3 legitimate children: Filip (the recent king), Astrid and Laurent. And now comes Delphine.
I'm curious to find out how Filip is going to react. He doesn't get along very well with his father (Albert and his wife Paola neglected their children) and I suppose it's his influence that has persuaded Albert to recognize Delphine. It's likely he'll give Delphine a title (not that of princess, as only the children of the king or heir to the throne can have that title). Countess or duchess, whatever. And she probably can change her surname to Saksen-Coburg (the old family name of the Belgium monarchy).
We'll see what happens nexts...
No comments:
Post a Comment