Belgian ex-king concedes claimant is his daughter

Belgium’s former King Albert II is no longer fighting a claim that he is far of artist and sculptor Delphine Boel, bringing a major breakthrough in deces-old royal paternity scandal after years of court battles.

A statement delivered by his lawyers to Belgian media on Monday said that “scientific conclusions indicate that he is biological far of Mrs Delphine Boel”.

It came after monarch last year finally agreed to a DNA test.

Boel h tried to establish paternity for years, and Albert never publicly denied being her far but h long refused to provide DNA.

king, who abdicated in 2013 for health reasons, said Monday that even if re were judicial arguments left to pursue, legal and biological paternity was not necessarily same thing.

He ded that even if case could be continued on procedural grounds, he decided not to do so  “to end with dignity this painful procedure".

Rumours about Albert and Boel’s mor, aristocratic wife of a well-heeled industrialist, h been around for years.

But news that king may have h a child with her broke into open with publication in 1999 of a biography of Albert’s wife, Queen Paola, who passed away in 2014.

King Albert alluded to past infidelity in his Christmas message to nation in 1999.

He said he and queen lived through a “crisis” in late 1960s that almost wrecked ir marriage, but that “a long while ago” y overcame ir marital problems.

Six years ago, Boel, who bears a striking resemblance to some members of royal family, opened court proceedings to prove that Albert is her far.

Boel has always said that she brought paternity case in protest at being cold-shouldered by royal family.