text: The retired King of the Belgians has been ordered to take a DNA paternity test by a Brussels court, raising the prospect of finally resolving whether he is the real father of Delphine Boël, a 50-year-old aristocrat artist. 
   
   King Albert II, who has refused to recognise Ms Boël as his daughter for more than a decade, must submit to the test within three months or be legally presumed to be the multi-media artist’s father. 
   
   An earlier court-ordered DNA test proved that Jacques Boël, scion of one of Belgium's richest industrial dynasties, was not her biological father. Since that 2013 test, Ms Boël, who has two children, has tried to prove that Albert is her father. 
   
   The former monarch, 83, abdicated in 2013 in favour of his son Philippe after 20 years on the throne. The decision also cost him his immunity to court judgments such as the paternity test, which would be a saliva test carried out on Albert, Ms Boël and her mother at a Brussels hospital. 
   
   Ms Boël's lawyers said in their statement that they were pleased with the "strong affirmation of the principle of acting in the interests of the child" as she seeks legal confirmation of her true identity. ||||| FILE PHOTO: Belgium's King Albert and Queen Paola attend a tribute to the victims of Brussels suicide attacks, at the royal palace in Brussels, Belgium, May 22, 2016. REUTERS/Fred Sierakowski/Pool/File Photo 
   
   BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Brussels appeals court has ordered the retired king of Belgium to take a DNA paternity test, overturning an earlier ruling in a suit brought by 50-year-old artist Delphine Boel. 
   
   Under the judgment, reported by Boel’s lawyers on Monday, King Albert II must take the test within three months or risk being presumed to be her father — although his lawyers could seek to challenge the court’s legal argument. 
   
   The 84-year-old monarch, who in 2013 abdicated in favor of his son Philippe after 20 years on the throne, has contested Boel’s claim for more than a decade. Court-ordered DNA tests have proved that she is not the daughter of Jacques Boel, scion of one of Belgium’s richest industrial dynasties. 
   
   The court could not be reached, and there was no immediate comment from the royal house. Boel’s lawyers said in their statement that they were pleased with the “strong affirmation of the principle of acting in the interests of the child” as she seeks legal confirmation of her true identity. 
   
   That identity became a topic of public debate after the publication in 1999 of a biography of Queen Paola, Albert’s Italian wife, which alleged that he had had a long extra-marital relationship from which a daughter was born in the 1960s. 
   
   Albert, who has no formal public role, has acknowledged that he and Paola had marital difficulties. Their three children are all older than Boel. Next in line to the throne is 17-year-old Princess Elisabeth, daughter of Philippe and Queen Mathilde.
target: – Belgium's former king has to undergo a paternity test. Per the Telegraph, a mandate just handed down by a Brussels appeals court will force King Albert II, who gave up his crown in 2013 so his son Philippe could sit on the throne, to have his saliva tested to see if he's the father of 50-year-old multimedia artist Delphine Boel. The ex-monarch has denied for more than 10 years that he's Boel's dad, but a 1999 biography on Albert's wife, Queen Paola, tells a different story. That tome alleges Albert had a long-time affair with aristocrat Sybille de Selys Longchamps, a relationship that allegedly resulted in the birth of Boel in the late '60s; the affair reportedly ended in 1976, when Albert chose to stay with Paola so he wouldn't have to abdicate. Albert has admitted his marriage to Paola, which produced three children of their own (all older than Boel), wasn't always smooth, per Reuters. The man Boel grew up believing was her father, Jacques Boel, has already been determined via DNA testing to not be her biological father. The court order, which overturned an earlier ruling and can't be appealed, says Albert has three months to comply with the testing. If he refuses, he'll be legally deemed Boel's father. (Salvador Dali, you are NOT the father of this Spanish woman.)