Belgium’s former king Albert II must pay a daily penalty of 5,000 Euros (5,602 dollars) if he refuses to carry out a DNA test to establish whether he is the father of artist Delphine Boel, a court ruled on Thursday.
Boel, 51, has been fighting to be recognized as Albert’s daughter since 2013, claiming that her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, had a lengthy affair with the ex-king decades ago.
In October, a Belgian court decided that Albert, 84, must undergo a paternity test.
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He challenged the decision, referring the case to the Court of Cassation, Belgium’s highest tribunal.
According to the RTBF broadcaster, it is not expected to reach a verdict before the end of the year.
In the meantime, however, the Brussels appeals court ruled that Albert must submit to DNA sampling.
“He will be asked to appear before a forensics expert and the penalty will apply from the first day of delay in doing so,’’ RTBF wrote.
A DNA test in 2013 established that Jacques Boel was not Delphine’s biological father.
A lower court ruled in 2018, however, that the paternity suit had no legal basis, as there were other criteria for family ties than biology.
Albert II, who abdicated in 2013 after a 20-year reign, has always denied being Delphine Boel’s father, however he has admitted that his marriage to Paola, 81, had been through rocky periods. (NAN)
