Queen Paola, mother of the King of the Belgians Felipe, was confident as never before in a documentary broadcast on Friday by Belgian television, in which he gives an account of his couple crises and an extramarital affair that “he does not regret”.
“I wasn’t happy for ten years. I didn’t know where to go. The danger of divorce was there. From 1970 to 1980, she was lonely and sad, “said Paola, born into a family of Italian nobility 84 years ago.
The aristocrat refers to the long crisis that her marriage went through with Albert II, 87, who reigned from 1993 to 2013.
Although in Belgium it was known of the existence of Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, with whom Alberto had a daughter out of wedlock, Delfina, in 1968, Paola had never before spoken openly about how she felt at that time.
The press claimed that she had a relationship with a journalist from the magazine Paris-Match, something that she recognizes in this hour and a half documentary while looking at a photo.
“I don’t feel guilty at all,” says Paola. “This photo is from a moment when I was really bad,” he added.
“Maybe next time, in another life, I won’t, but I don’t regret anything,” he adds.
In the documentary, by director Nicolas Delvaulx, the royal couple recount how they bonded in the 1980s, flipping through albums as a family. King Felipe also intervenes, talking about his childhood.
“Obviously, as children we witnessed difficult things”, affirms the current king of the Belgians. “We all suffer a lot.”
“But today, they are happy and that is, at least, a victory, you have to love that, it’s something brave,” he adds, addressing his parents.
Paola, who married Alberto when she was 21, in the summer of 1959, admits under her breath that she married too young. “We had an unfinished adolescence,” he says. “It’s a shame we can’t repeat things.”
For his part, Alberto acknowledges that he was “a fairly authoritarian father” and that Philip suffered for it. “I had a very bad reaction, I didn’t take much interest in him.”
The couple had three children: Felipe, born in 1960 and became king after his father’s abdication on July 2, 2013; Astrid, born in 1962, and Prince Lorenzo (1963).
Princess Delfina is Alberto’s fourth daughter, a filiation finally recognized in 2020, after performing a DNA test. For years, he had denied it in court.
Queen Paola, mother of the King of the Belgians Felipe, was confident as never before in a documentary broadcast on Friday by Belgian television, in which he gives an account of his couple crises and an extramarital affair that “he does not regret”.
“I wasn’t happy for ten years. I didn’t know where to go. The danger of divorce was there. From 1970 to 1980, she was lonely and sad, “said Paola, born into a family of Italian nobility 84 years ago.
The aristocrat refers to the long crisis that her marriage went through with Albert II, 87, who reigned from 1993 to 2013.
Although in Belgium it was known of the existence of Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, with whom Alberto had a daughter out of wedlock, Delfina, in 1968, Paola had never before spoken openly about how she felt at that time.
The press claimed that she had a relationship with a journalist from the magazine Paris-Match, something that she recognizes in this hour and a half documentary while looking at a photo.
“I don’t feel guilty at all,” says Paola. “This photo is from a moment when I was really bad,” he added.
“Maybe next time, in another life, I won’t, but I don’t regret anything,” he adds.
In the documentary, by director Nicolas Delvaulx, the royal couple recount how they bonded in the 1980s, flipping through albums as a family. King Felipe also intervenes, talking about his childhood.
“Obviously, as children we witnessed difficult things”, affirms the current king of the Belgians. “We all suffer a lot.”
“But today, they are happy and that is, at least, a victory, you have to love that, it’s something brave,” he adds, addressing his parents.
Paola, who married Alberto when she was 21, in the summer of 1959, admits under her breath that she married too young. “We had an unfinished adolescence,” he says. “It’s a shame we can’t repeat things.”
For his part, Alberto acknowledges that he was “a fairly authoritarian father” and that Philip suffered for it. “I had a very bad reaction, I didn’t take much interest in him.”
The couple had three children: Felipe, born in 1960 and became king after his father’s abdication on July 2, 2013; Astrid, born in 1962, and Prince Lorenzo (1963).
Princess Delfina is Alberto’s fourth daughter, a filiation finally recognized in 2020, after performing a DNA test. For years, he had denied it in court.
;
