Who is Princess Delphine of Belgium? The ‘illegitimate love child’ of King Albert II is a controversial artist who fought her father in court for an official royal title
The story told by Princess Delphine of Saxe-Coburg’s social media accounts is one of love, family and art, as well as an appreciation of all the good (and bad) things in her varied life.
Her background is as colourful and intriguing as her art. She was born Delphine Boël out of wedlock in 1968 after her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, had an affair with the former King Albert II of Belgium while he was still married to the Italian princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria.
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It was only in 2013 that she began a battle to be recognised as legitimate. “The first time I visited him [King Albert] and his lawyers, he was very nasty and made me cry. I never thought I would go to court. But I did it out of a certain principle,” she shared later in a VTM documentary, according to The Times.
Eventually, in January 2020, Boël prevailed, lawfully becoming a princess of Belgium on October 1, 2020, a moment she marked by changing her Instagram account handle from @delphine_boel to @delphine_de_saxe_cobourg.
But even before becoming a princess, her life was nothing short of a fairy tale in many ways. Don’t believe us?
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1. She makes super-controversial art
Well before her legal fight with the king began, Boël was an established artist, having graduated from the Chelsea School of Art in 1991. She has produced label art for a beer brewed by Struisse, and has a sculpture called Ageless Love in a park in the city of Sint-Niklaas.
Much of Boël’s most famous work though has a more angsty vibe, including a 2011 neon sculpture that bears the phrase “Love Child”, and a painting that states “F*** You, I Exist”.
More commercial work goes under the title “Never Give Up”. That includes her 2021 makeover of a Lamborghini racing car driven by Esteban Muth, a Belgian-German driver, currently competing for T3 Motorsport in the German touring car championship. One of her two books, published in 2017 and available online, is also called Never Give Up and is a catalogue for an exhibition of that name at the Museum of Ixelles.
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2. But also wearable art and homeware
She has also made art that can be worn – most famously her Blabla ring and ear accessories – as well as scarves, dresses and skirts that have been exhibited on runways.
Beyond that there’s dinnerware featuring the same phrase.
3. Travelling with the fam
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A family that travels together, stays together. Today, Princess Dephine has two children with her American husband Jim O’Hare – Princess Joséphine (19) and Prince Oscar (14) – and together they are often seen gallivanting around the world, pictured on her Instagram everywhere from Moscow to Texas, Copenhagen to Beijing.
4. She still knows how to have a good laugh
Despite the drama surrounding her royal lineage, Princess Delphine remains able to have a laugh, including at herself. On Instagram she has shared a photo of a group of people dressed as her at the Aalst Carnival, a three-day celebration that has become controversial for its portrayal of Orthodox Jews which has widely been described as anti-Semitic.
On a lighter note, she also didn’t hesitate to share a blooper reel from one of her TV interviews.
5. Strutting it on Dancing with the Stars
The princess again showed how she doesn’t take herself too seriously by appearing on Dancing with the Stars’ Belgium edition, not just dancing the night away, but also raising money for a good cause, Make-a-Wish, that helps children with life-threatening conditions.
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She often hosts art workshops for kids.
And does charity work for women’s breast cancer awareness.
She may have only received her royal title quite recently, but it seems Princess Delphine has always shown a regal public spiritedness, alongside her determination to be recognised. Ultimately, this unfiltered emotion helped her made a name for herself well before she gained any official acceptance.
- Her mother Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps had an affair with King Albert while he was married to Paola Ruffo di Calabria, an Italian princess
- She appeared on Dancing with the Stars, her art includes a Lamborghini racing car driven by Esteban Muth, and she’s raised two teen children, Princess Joséphine and Prince Oscar