Queen Paola of Belgium opens up about controversial marriage in new documentary
It is understood that Queen Paola only participated in the documentary "for the sake of history."
Paola Margherita Giuseppina Maria Antonia Consiglia Ruffo di Calbria, the Queen of the Belgians from 1993 to 2013 as the wife of the former King Albert II, will talk about the difficulties in their marriage for the first time in an upcoming documentary.
According to a report in Royal Central, the Belgian royal has been filmed for a documentary that will chart her life including her 62-year long marriage to King Albert. The programme will mark the first time she speaks in detail about her marriage after her husband confessed to having a child with another woman. The documentary also comes just months after his natural daughter was granted the title of Princess Delphine in an unprecedented move.
The Belgian royal court hasn't yet announced the documentary, but it came to light after a grant of 15,000 euros was revealed in documents belonging to the Brussels Screen Film Fund. Further investigation by local media house Nieuwsblad confirmed that all the interviews for the programme have been completed.
The programme is reportedly set to air this autumn on RTBF. It is understood that Queen Paola only participated in the documentary "for the sake of history."
Paola was born in Italy in 1937 to Fulco, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, the 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda who was also a World War I Italian flying ace, and Donna Luisa Gazelli dei Conti di Rossana e di Sebastiano, a matrilineal descendant of the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution. Though the Italian monarchy fell in 1946, she is related to historically eminent Roman and southern Italian noble families, including the Colonna, Orsini, Pallavicini, Alliata, and Rospigliosi.
The 83-year-old joined the Belgian royalty upon her marriage to Albert in Brussels in 1959. The couple went on to have three children together, including the reigning King Philippe. At the time of their marriage, Albert was Prince of Liege and was not expected to sit on the throne, but his older brother Baudouin died unexpectedly in 1993 without any surviving children.
The couple continues to live together following their retirement, despite Albert's confession that he is the father of Delphine Boel, born in 1968 during his 18-year-long relationship with Sybille de Selys Longchamps. Princess Delphine carried out her first royal engagement earlier this month, after winning the HRH title and other royal rights following a long legal battle.
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