Court to Rule on Whether King's Daughter Is a Princess

Delphine Boël knows her father is the former king of Belgium. Now that the courts have found that to be true, she's waiting for the next ruling—on whether Boel will become Princess of Belgium and Her Royal Highness. Albert II does not approve, per the Guardian. "As far as the title is concerned, it is not a prerogative of the court but a prerogative of the executive power, in our opinion," Albert's representative said. The former king denied paternity for years, until a DNA test confirmed it. Boël, 52, was born during her mother's extramarital affair with Albert in the 1960s and '70s, before he became king. Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps revealed the affair in 2013, on the day Albert relinquished the crown for what he said were health reasons.

"Delphine's position isn't that she wants or doesn't want to be princess," her lawyer said, per the BBC. "She doesn't want to be a cut-price child, she wants to have exactly the same privileges, titles and capacities as her brothers and her sister." Albert has three other children; Philippe succeeded him as king, a job that's mostly ceremonial in the constitutional monachy. A court victory might mean that Boël's two children are entitled to royal titles. The legal battle to prove paternity took Boël seven years. "Her life has been a long nightmare because of this quest for identity," her lawyer has said. The ruling on titles is due Oct. 29. (The reigning king has apologized for past abuses by Belgium.)