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Albert II, former King of Belgium, with a band-aid on his head, and former Queen Paola of Belgium attend a special service commemorating the deceased members of the Belgian royal family at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk.
Photo: Eric Lalmand / dpa
Belgium's Queen Paola poured out her heart in a TV report.
"I wasn't happy for ten years, I didn't know where to go," says the mother of the reigning Belgian King Philip in the documentary broadcast on Belgian public television on Friday.
»From 1970 to 1980 I was lonely and sad.«
In the hour-and-a-half program, Paola admits to an affair with a journalist for the first time, which the queen had been accused of for years.
"I don't feel guilty at all," says the 84-year-old when she is shown a photo of the reporter from the sports newspaper "Paris Match".
"Maybe I wouldn't do that in another life, but I don't regret anything."
Paola's infidelity has been a rumor for years, while her husband Albert II's longstanding extramarital relationship, who abdicated in 2013, has long been known.
This affair with Baroness Sibylle de Sélys Longchamps gave birth to Délphine Boel, who was born in 1968 and who, after years of legal battles, can now call herself a princess and is officially a member of the royal family.
»But today you are happy«
In the documentary, the royal couple now describes how they rebuilt their marriage in the 1980s.
Son Philip also has his say: "Of course we experienced difficult things as children," says the current head of state.
"But today you are happy," he adds to his parents.
"That's quite an achievement."
The current Queen Paola was born Princess Paola Ruffo of Calabria in Italy in 1937.
She is the youngest of seven children of Prince Fulco Ruffo of Calabria, a prominent Italian fighter pilot during World War I.
Paola spent her youth in Rome where, at the age of 21, she met Prince Albert of Belgium, brother of the then King of Belgium, Baudouin.
The marriage came too early, as Paola now admits: "We had an unfulfilled youth." It was "a pity that things can't be repeated".
For his part, her husband Albert admits that he was "a rather authoritarian father".
Philippe suffered from it.
Albert II ascended the throne in 1993 after the sudden death of his brother.
In 2013, the then 79-year-old abdicated in favor of his eldest son.
His wife retained the title of Queen even after the abdication.
jso/AFP