BELGIUM’S former king Albert II on Tuesday underwent a DNA test, as had been legally demanded of him in a long-running paternity dispute with artist Delphine Boel, the Belga news agency reported.

Boel, 51, has been fighting to be recognised 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.

He challenged the decision, referring the case to the Court of Cassation, Belgium’s highest tribunal.

It is not expected to reach a verdict until a later date.

In the meantime, however, the Brussels appeals court ruled earlier this month that Albert must submit to DNA sampling, or else face a daily fine of 5,000 Euros (5,597 dollars).

Albert carried out the test, his lawyer Alain Berenboom told Belga, noting that the results are strictly confidential for both the court and the former king.

A DNA test in 2013 established that Jacques Boel was not Delphine’s biological father.

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

BE

– 28 May, 2019 @ 18:10 GMT |