At 18, Delphine Boël discovered her biological father was King Albert II of Belgium

He refused to acknowledge her

Her story is one of legal battles, royal resistance, and a fight for truth

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But that’s not the only scandal to hit the Luxembourg monarchy during Grand Duke Henri’s reign

To find out more listen and subscribe to my podcast It’s Reigning Men now, with another episode coming this weekend

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In both the Belgian and Dutch cases a solution was found

But in Luxembourg the Grand Duke’s refusal to sign the bill was causing a constitutional crisis and officials were concerned he could try to prevent future laws

So, they changed the constitution to strip him of that power

🇳🇱 Shortly after the end of World War II, The Netherlands had a “conscientious objector” of its own with its monarch at the time

Queen Juliana in 1951 and 1952 refused to sign the death warrants of four Nazis known as the Breda Four

Instead they were sentenced to life in prison

The work around?

King Baudouin of the Belgians asked the government to declare him unfit to rule for 24 hours

The constitution stated if the king was unfit to rule the government assumed the role of head of state

So, for one day Belgium had no monarch and the bill was signed

🇧🇪 There was precedent for this in neighbouring Belgium where officials there had found a way around the then King Baudouin’s refusal to sign a bill legalising abortion in 1990

Again the monarch claimed his catholic faith prevented him from approving the legislation

Henri, a devout Catholic, said he couldn’t sign the bill because of “reasons of conscience”

Officials were blindsided by his decision because the democratically elected parliament had voted to legalise euthanasia, and had wrongly assumed the monarch would sanction the law

🇱🇺 This is Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg - who’s stepping down later this year

Eight years into his reign, in 2008, he caused a constitutional crisis when he tried to use his ‘veto power’ to stop a euthanasia bill

Henri’s approval and signature was needed for it to become law

Since World War II three European monarchs have refused to sign a bill/ give royal assent - despite the legislation being passed by parliament

This is explored in my podcast series It’s Reigning Men: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

🧵So what happened in Luxembourg, Belgium and The Netherlands?

🇯🇴 How is the King of Jordan responding to Donald Trump’s orders?

👑 Plus why did Abdullah only discover he was the next king two weeks before he took on the role?

📰 And how is the media restricted in covering the monarchy?

🎧 Latest It’s Reigning Men: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Had the opportunity to share my thoughts on the current social media landscape with @danielrosney.bsky.social of BBC News

As more and more brands leave X to come to platforms like here, I added in my latest BBC News radio programme if that’s a good business decision

Take a listen www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Another episode of It’s Reigning Men out now

🇸🇪 This time it’s all about Europe’s longest-reigning monarch: Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf

Stripped of all political power, has he maintained the monarchy’s relevancy?

Listen on Apple, Spotofy and everywhere else: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Interested in modern monarchy?

The first episode of It’s Reigning Men is out now!

First episode out now - please listen and subscribe if you want to know more about the men born into power and privilege podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Can’t wait to get started with It’s Reigning Men

Please subscribe on Spotify, Amazon, or wherever else

Apple link here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

More than 40 countries in the world still have a monarchy

None of those monarchs are women

With this new series - It’s Reigning Men - I’ll explore who these men are born into palaces and privilege

First ep out Sunday - pls subscribe wherever you listen to pods: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

A few moments later…

Yet another day assigned on an animal story and trying to not be nervous around them but them sensing the fear

Sometimes I’ll be sent on a story in a part of England I don’t know well at all and I’m always surprised that some of these towns and villages are real places and not names of locations in novels

Today is one of those days

Hoping I’m not going to be the first person cancelled on Bluesky