Sybille de Selys Longchamps

Sybille de Selys Longchamps
Born
Baroness Sybille Michèle Emilie Marie Ghislaine de Selys Longchamps

(1941-08-28) 28 August 1941 (age 82)
Uccle, Belgium
Spouses
Jonkheer Jacques Boël
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​
(m. 1962; div. 1978)​
Hon. Michael Anthony Rathborne Cayzer
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​
(m. 1982; died 1990)​
ChildrenPrincess Delphine of Belgium
Parents
  • Count Michel François de Selys Longchamps: 1910–1983 (father)
  • Countess Pauline Julie Cornet de Ways-Ruart: 1914–1953 (mother)

Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps (born 28 August 1941) is a Belgian noblewoman. She is the former mistress of King Albert II, with whom she has a daughter, Princess Delphine.[1]

Born in Uccle, De Selys Longchamps was the daughter of Count Michel François de Selys Longchamps and Countess Pauline Julie Cornet de Ways-Ruart. In 1962, she married industrialist and steel magnate, Jonkheer Jacques Boël (1929–2022), nephew of Count René Boël. They divorced in 1978. In 1982, de Selys Longchamps married The Honourable Michael Anthony Rathborne Cayzer (1929–1990), son of shipping tycoon Herbert Cayzer, 1st Baron Rotherwick. [2]

In 1968, De Selys Longchamps gave birth to daughter Delphine Boël while engaged in an extra-marital relationship with Prince Albert (later King) of Belgium. [3] In 2013, the Baroness granted an interview with Belgian network VIER in a television special entitled, 'Onze dochter heet Delphine' (Our Daughter is Called Delphine). The Baroness told the interviewer that she and the Prince took no precautions in their affair, as she thought she was unable to become pregnant. Delphine was born in 1968 as a Boël, and was raised by Belgian industrialist Jacques Boël. She was not formally recognized as King Albert's daughter until 2021.[4] [5]

De Selys Longchamps moved to London in 1976 where she lived with her second husband at his rural estate. She now maintains homes in Brussels and Provence.

References

  1. ^ "Belgium's ex-King Albert II admits fathering child after DNA test". BBC News. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Burke's Peerage".
  3. ^ Higgins, Andrew (2013-07-19). "Belgium Is Also Awaiting Possible News of a New Royal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  4. ^ Breeden, Aurelien (28 January 2020). "Ex-King of Belgium Acknowledges a Long-Dismissed Daughter". The New York Times.
  5. ^ ""We didn't take precautions. I thought I couldn't have a baby"". 4 September 2013.
  • Oscar Coomans de Brachène, État présent de la noblesse belge, Annuaire de 1998, première partie (de Selys Longchamps), p. 187-197, Brussels, 1998.
  • Oscar Coomans de Brachène, État présent de la noblesse belge, Annuaire de 2003, seconde partie (Boël), p. 354-358, Brussels, 2003.
  • Delphine Boël, Couper le cordon, Brussels, ed. Wever & Bergh, 2008