Spoilt royals are nothing new. From pampered princes who constantly talk about their dead mothers and how their wives embody said deceased parent to kings with thousands of lovers, it’s pretty safe to say scandals are their bread and butter.
In this post, we’ll explore some of the biggest royal scandals worldwide and how other people were blamed, despite it being the royal’s fault. However, the story about the love child in Belgium’s royal family isn’t one of those stories, though it is messy with a stubborn king.
Let’s begin with a massive one that led to the abdication of a king.
Spain – The King, The Mistress And The Downfall That Lead To Abdication
King Juan Carlos was a beloved figure in Spain. He was raised by a dictator and married Sofia (spelt initially ‘Sophia’), a princess of Greece and Denmark. However, he was not a faithful husband to her. It is alleged he had over 2000 mistresses. It is alleged that he may have fathered an illegitimate child in the fifties.
However, while his scandals were largely hidden from the Spanish public, one didn’t stay under the radar; that was his affair with Corinna Zu-Sayn Wittgenstein, a German businesswoman. The public quickly turned on Corinna, and Queen Sofia knew all about it. However, the Queen could not do anything as she knew her husband’s constant infidelities. Also, she and Juan Carlos lived separately, though they came together publicly.
Juan Carlos also had shady friends who gave him a ton of secret money that the royal treasury knew nothing about. His affair with Corinna became obsessive, even after their breakup. His spoilt ways of always getting what he wanted led to him allowing his former mistress to be framed for corruption to protect his daughter, Infanta Cristina, who was involved alongside her then-husband.
Corinna was made to be the scapegoat for the money Juan Carlos gave her when she refused to return to him. She threatened to make the money public by contacting the Spanish treasury and telling them that the beloved King of Spain had money they had no idea existed from his shady friends.
Also, Queen Sofia made Corinna’s life a living hell. Not to mention, when Juan Carlos’s popularity took a massive hit, and he was forced to abdicate, it suddenly became Corinna’s fault, despite the King putting himself in the position he ended up in due to his cheating ways.
Belgium – The King’s Secret Love Child
Illegitimate children used to be a secret during the days of earlier monarchs. For example, Henry VIII of England had a son with a woman who was not any of his wives. However, today, it’s a bit more… complicated. We’ve covered this story before but wanted to review it for anyone new to the site.
In the early 90s, a young journalist wrote an unauthorised biography about Paola, the Queen of Belgians. In it, there was speculation that King Albert II had an illegitimate daughter from a mistress he had had in the late 60s. The press got wind of this information and looked into it, all but confirming.
Royal Love Child Scandal Hits Several Snags
According to Delphine, she discovered her father’s identity when she was 17, and King Albert wanted to divorce his wife. Still, Delphine’s mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, had advised against this, given the political issues it would bring up.
Delphine spoke to her father when she was 33 and wanted his help. However, during this phone call, he told her never to call him again, promptly cutting her off. Delphine then launched a paternity suit against Albert, hoping to be recognised as his child. However, there was one issue; he was immune to the right of the law. So, she called upon her half-siblings.
King Albert II’s Luck Runs Out
Albert’s immunity was no longer valid when he abdicated in 2013 and was replaced by his son, Phillipe. However, four years later, in 2017, Delphine’s refiled case fell apart when the court declared that her recognition claim was unfounded. She then appealed the decision.
Finally, in 2018, the former monarch was told to submit DNA to prove he was Delphine’s father. In Belgium, despite not being necessary, not giving DNA was more or less proof that a man was the father in a paternity lawsuit.
Albert appealed against the decision but was denied. He was told that if he didn’t give DNA, every day that went by would cost him money that would go into Delphine’s pocket. Finally, in late January 2020, it was announced that the DNA test did confirm that the King was Delphine’s father.
Delphine later met with her father and stepmother. She also met with her half-brother and was named HRH Princess of Belgium. Her two children were also given titles, though the trio are not in the Belgian line of succession because Delphine was born out of wedlock.
Britain – Drug Scandal
We talk a lot about Prince Harry on Project Fangirl without meaning to. His bad behaviour must be called out, and we do it near-daily. But this story gives back to the days before Meghan Markle. Way before.
So, this story shows what a narcissist and spoilt man Harry was even as a younger man. So, in the early 2000s, the level dropped, and Prince Harry was caught taking drugs. Buckingham Palace denied the story, but it was true, and Harry blamed his press team for the story getting out and not doing anything about it when they had. So, in a nutshell, he criticised his staff for doing something.
There has been a recent rumour where it is alleged that he would resort to “loyalty” tests to see which staff members were “loyal” to him. This was often a tactic used by Hitler..
