Princess Delphine of Belgium is the 57-year-old half-sister to Belgium’s King Philippe. She wasn’t really raised to be part of the Belgian royal family – she was King Albert’s love child, the result of a long-standing affair between the king and a woman from Belgian nobility. But Delphine was always raised within the aristocracy. She ended up going to court to fight for her right to be “included” in the royal family and to use Belgium’s royal style. Well, Delphine gives interviews, and she was asked this week about Prince Harry’s situation. She was enormously compassionate.
Princess Delphine doesn’t come from your usual royal background. Her birth was the result of an shocking, years-long affair between King Albert II of Belgium with Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, and she didn’t know her real father—known to her as a family friend—was actually the king until she was 18. Armed with DNA, Delphine, 57, fought for nearly two decades to prove that King Albert was her dad and won her legal battle in 2020. While speaking to the “It’s Reigning Men” podcast, Princess Delphine shared her incredible story—but she also opened up about how she relates to Prince Harry.
Explaining that she was a “politically exposed person” and “had no protection,” Delphine—who, like Prince Harry, is not a working royal—said she understood how the Duke of Sussex felt. After being asked about Harry, she said, “”I do follow a little bit of Harry because Lady Diana was just part of my life when I was in England… Then she had these children and everything, and then this death was just horrible…I feel very sorry for Harry because I think that was traumatic for him. I think Harry suffered so much, and I think he was traumatised and it’s coming out now.”
Referencing the Duke of Sussex’s recent court battle in the U.K. over his security, Delphine said, “I think there is this thing about security. I think it’s to do with what happened to his mother. I understand the guy. He’s just traumatized.”
“And I understand, so he’s doing these things, and everybody’s bullying him, but not thinking about his trauma,” Delphine continued. “And I just find it terrible because he’s just been kind of left.”
[From Marie Claire & The Daily Mirror]
She’s referencing her own childhood in England – she’s only seven years younger than Princess Diana, so she would have grown up watching Diana and Charles’s wedding and watching them welcome their sons. I think for so many women of that generation – born in the 1960s, close in age to Diana – there’s always a strong interest in Diana’s story and the stories of Diana’s sons. I don’t think Delphine is wrong either – I also think Harry has been repeatedly traumatized, and the traumas have been compounded by decades of neglect and abuse. I also think his security fight was partially about Diana too, and he likely learned more about his mother’s situation in her final years throughout his security case.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- FILE PHOTOS: As the 20th Anniversary of the death of Princess Diana approaches (31st August 2017), Cover Images take a look at these re-digitized images from the archives of celebrated British Photographer, Mauro Carraro. Approximate date of images is shown in caption below. August 1987 Princess Diana with Prince Harry on holiday with teh Spanish Royal family in Majorca,Image: 347670758, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: ***Not Available for Subscription Clients***Editorial Use Only. No stock, books, advertising or merchandising without photographer's permission***, Model Release: no
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- Belgian artist Delphine Boel pictured during a press moment of Delphine de Saxe-Cobourg Gotha after the Brussels appeal court granted her to be a Princess and to have the name of her biological father, Belgian King Albert II, Monday 05 October 2020, in Brussels. THIERRY ROGE,Image: 567389534, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: UK and USA ONLY – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: THIERRY ROGE/Avalon
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- The Duke of Sussex during the unveiling of a statue commissioned of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, on what would have been her 60th birthday. Picture date: Thursday July 1, 2021.,Image: 619146822, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- 5th CANNESERIES pink carpet – day 4. Princess Delphine of Belgium attends the pink carpet during the 5th Canneseries Festival – Day Four on April 04, 2022 in Cannes, France.,Image: 680213443, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel/Avalon
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- 5th CANNESERIES pink carpet – day 4. Princess Delphine of Belgium attends the pink carpet during the 5th Canneseries Festival – Day Four on April 04, 2022 in Cannes, France.,Image: 680213464, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel/Avalon
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arriving at the Invictus Games 10th Anniversary Service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, England. UK. Wednesday 8th May 2024 -,Image: 871355456, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NORESTRICTIONS, Model Release: no, Pictured: Invictus Games 10th Anniversary, Credit line: JW / Bang Showbiz / Avalon
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- Prince Harry arrives at The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 8 April, 2025 for the start of a two day hearing to appeal the decision over his security access at the Appeals Court.,Image: 985031333, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, on holiday in Majorca, Spain, with their sons Prince William and Prince Harry. They are guests of King Juan Carlos of Spain and his wife Queen Sofia. They are staying at their holiday home, the Marivent Palace, which is situated just outside the capital city of Palma.
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- HRH PRINCESS OF WALES (HRH Princess Diana). With HRH PRINCE HARRY. Seen at the VJ Day Celebrations. COMPULSORY CREDIT: UPPA/Photoshot Photo URK 010143/G-29 19.08.1995
“ and everybody’s bullying him, but not thinking about his trauma”
Bingo. The rats like to bring out the Diana card when it suits Chuck, his minions and the Lazies but Harry mentions his mother – “Mummy” card on her funeral casket – and they deride him.
There was so much compassion for those two boys in the immediate years after Diana died but it was a conscious decision they made to turn the red-haired Harry into some feckless young man to rehab Chuck’s woeful record as a single father, while praising the equally damaged golden haired Willy.
Yes, Harry is going through the trauma and he doesn’t understand why the propaganda overwhelmingly criticises HIS decision to protect his wife and his kids. He doesn’t want to lose any more people killed by the Windsor death cult but the rats and the Palaces like to ignore that. It’s their inconvenient truth that everyone can see…but them.
So more power to the Sussexes. The rats and the Palaces are cannibalising each other in their hate for Harry and his wife…but it ain’t working. The numbers don’t lie.
As Harry has pointed out, his own father and Camilla turned him into a feckless character to shield themselves from negative publicity. It was and remains appalling.
She’s right. He was “just left” from the moment Charles told him his mother was dead. I also don’t think he had any idea about the residual trauma of his mother’s death until he met Meghan and she insisted that he work on himself, treat her with respect, and found a woman strong enough and unimpressed enough to stand up for herself. He learned a lot.
I agree with you. I also think he didn’t fully understand the overall trauma of his upbringing, outside of his mother’s death, until he met Meghan. I think there was a lot that he just accepted as “the way it is” and I think Meghan helped him to see how messed up so much of that was, and I think he’s still dealing with that.
It’s amazing people outside Britain, away from the hate scribes, can see so much more clearly and compassionately.
She’s right. Harry has said that he doesn’t want a repeat of history.
Very well-said, and a refreshing change from the gaslighting we constantly hear from various British minor royals and royal-adjacents who insist that Harry is just thin-skinned and melodramatic.
Harry really is an excellent advertisement for the wonders of therapy, his progress made all the clearer in contrast with a brother who endured the same uniquely traumatizing childhood, but refuses to seek help to work through those issues and remains angry and bitter.
Sybille De Selys Longchamps! That is one aristocratic name. It just drips inherited jewels.
Yes, she’s got it right. Harry was traumatized and frankly, abused. His father and the leeches he feeds in the media are still doing it.
On a shallow note, Delphine has very pretty, striking eyes.
I don’t know. It’s good that she shows compassion, but this reads to me like “Be nice to Harry; he’s going through some sh*t.” Like all of his recent choices have been because of childhood trauma – “it’s coming out now” – and he’ll come to his senses once he gets over it.
At the end of the day, without any of that trauma, his actions have made sense. The way the press and that family treated Meghan…makes total sense. Any person would have done the same to protect their family against the cruelty and racism. They were not being protected and he did what he had to do.
I think that’s nice of her 💖
Wow she hit the nail on the head! He was traumatized!
Whenever I think about how that family treated Diana, and then Harry, I just rage on their behalf. It’s a shame Diana isn’t still with us.
He doesn’t want safety because of his trauma, but because there is racism, misogyny and real death threats against him, his wife and his children. He certainly doesn’t want safety because of the fear caused by the trauma. Harry’s fear is real!!! The trauma is a different issue and should not be associated with it under any circumstances. They did the same thing to his mum when they labelled her paranoid. She was not paranoid!
Yes, thank you. That’s what I was trying to say.
Childhood trauma lives on and is a cloud that casts a long shadow over all of life’s experiences, including fear. The trauma issue is not separate, it is an integral part of all the emotions even into adulthood.
Yes, but in this case the trauma is being used by others to challenge his perception of a real threat. No one has the right to do that. Regardless of what Harry has experienced in the past, which is bad enough, he can distinguish with absolute certainty between threats of the present and those of the past.
He says it very plainly in Spare.
That no one talked about trauma and mental/emotionally difficulties like the Duchess of Sussex did, except one person, his mom had.
He talked about the palace planting stories, and relentless “media” chasing her, and he could see history repeating itself. He was honestly scared they were going to kill his wife the way they killed his mother.
And it is why he doesn’t want Meg in England ever without a fully security detail.
I mean, look what the british “media” did to them in NYC a year or two ago where they were driving insanely chasing them.
I will not forgive anyone making Miss Doria cry.
In The Me You Can’t See (the 6 part mental health doc Harry did with Oprah on Apple TV- which is not all about him, he’s just in it a little bit- he states that his mother was killed while she was in a relationship with someone who wasn’t white, and that is not lost on him.
He worries that they will kill his wife and his children like they did his mother.
His family made life dangerous for his mom, now his wife and children.
It isn’t “just coming out now”, it’s been a factor his whole life. And his need for security is perfectly rational, not simply trauma-based.
It’s very rational but without the trauma involved he might not realize that danger.
Of course, he’s traumatized! It shouldn’t take a royal adjacent from the continent to have that point acknowledged and taken seriously.
But her comments focussing so much on trauma would give the casual reader the idea that Harry is fighting for security and not because of trauma but real security threats. Harry is dealing with his trauma very well because he sought help to cope with it.
Just a picky note, Belgian monarchs are styled “King/Queen of the Belgians” instead of “King/Queen of Belgium.” I’ve never really understood why, something about it being a hereditary and constitutional monarchy, or a hereditary vs. a constitutional monarchy, I dunno, basically they represent the people of Belgium rather than a geographical region.
In antiquity and Middle Ages monarchy was a popular monarchy referring to the people or nation. Interestingly Belgium is a multinational state so maybe as a way of uniting the Dutch, French and Germans they opted to use Belgians. Interestingly Belgium was once a territory of Spain which is where Flamenco derives from the Flemish and influenced by the Flemish who settled in Moorish Spain with its Arabic culture. And Belgium chocolates because of the Spanish bringing back Cocoa from the Americas. There are lots of Marteens in Belgium from the Spanish surname Martín..Martinez..ez is of or son of. Anyway I trace my genealogy New Mexico to Mexico to Spain to France to Belgium.
Whats compassionate about what she said? Not a damn thing. Even Stevie Wonder can see that she’s transferring her own situation – being an unwanted, denied and ignored child from birth – and substituting Prince Harry in her stead.
Harry has been doing therapy for his self-acknowledged trauma since 2017. In the Me You Cant See, aired in 2021, H said he didnt need therapy anymore but: “I want it,” and so he revealed back then in an interview that he checks in every so often with his therapist. And I believe M does the same with hers. And as CIO of Better Up, H has his own coach within that organization, as does M. And as Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Archewell, H&M make coaching free and available to their staff.
So no, H is not a walking bag of trauma. Its handled.
I say all that to say that H doesnt need anyone’s misguided pity disguised as compassion. And certainly not from yet another gossipy, royal-adjacent who clearly has her own untreated trauma to deal with.
Do these chatterboxes not have any pride, seeing that H&M NEVAH! mentions or discusses anyone! I mean! Take a hint, FFS.
FYI to all those who insist on pretending not to understand the gravity of what H, as protector of his family, is dealing with: theres a 1000 year old institution, with Machiavellian managers, used to using any means necessary to get rid of folks they deem to be inconvenient and who see the Sussexes as a problem to be solved. By any means necessary. But as time has became more civilized, theyve had to adjust their usual methods of getting rid of their perceived enemies.
So here we are in the 21st century and the levelling of social mores that it has wrought so far, in which simply ending, eliminating, unaliving folks, even their own, who thwart them, is not as easily done as in the past.
No one is more aware of their tactics than H. And in the event that there are folks who think he’s being paranoid, as they thought his mother had been, H took the lid off and revealed some of their tactics when he said in the bbc interview that his father the king and his advisors were actively interfering with and jeopardizing his safety and that of his wife and children by TELLING GOVERNMENTS IN COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD, N.O.T. TO PROVIDE THE SUSSEXES WTIH SECURITY!
So if theres anyone who thinks H is preoccupied with ingratiating himself with those f*ckers in palaces over there, when he has bigger fish to fry, theyre living in a fool’s paradise.
Keep your misguided pity and stay in your lane.
Wow, @kingston, such a hateful response to Princess Delphine’s kind comments. I viewed her comments going to, largely, Prince Harry’s fight for security in the UK and how that rightly links up with Harry’s having not only been traumatized but understanding from that and seeing red flags with his current situation in not only the way that the Press are demonizing Meghan and now their children but how they are inciting hatred against them and himself, which has resulted in death threats and people, and the Press, actually acting out threats (the New York car chase, the woman who approached Meghan after boasting online she was going to take a knife and slit her belly open to prove that Archie wasn’t real, etc).
It is precisely because of having been traumatized (and learning from it) that Harry understands now the very real threats to his family. Add to this, the bullying that Delphine mentions (and, boy, did Diana ever experience this at the hands of the press, egged on by the Royals) and her understanding about how vulnerable he must feel (as she did for a long period without protection against an intrusive press) – I think her statement showed a great deal of empathy with someone who just wants to protect his family.
No need to demonize Delphine.
Harry is probably still “handling” his trauma. I don’t know the man, I’m just making an assumption based on my years of experience as a psychiatric RN. In his most recent interview it seemed to me like it hadn’t been handled but still a work in progress. The fact that Harry decided that Sussex would be their surname indicates he is still needs more work on handling things.
Absolutely, @andrea, but from the work he’s done already he can see much of how toxic his living situation was and how that negatively impacted Meghan and now their children. Otherwise, I don’t think he would have gotten Meghan and Archie, and himself, out of the UK so quickly.
From my, unprofessional, standpoint. I don’t think you ever “get over” trauma but you can learn to recognize it, deal with it and learn from it so that you can recognize equally toxic, traumatic or even dangerous, situations and either remedy them or avoid them. Indeed, having dealt with traumatic situations before, I am very happy for the residual red and yellow flags that I can see as a result thereof.
Absolutely love the print and colors of her dress. So energizing.
I’ve seen that photo of Diana in the yellow dress and Harry a million times, but I don’t think I’ve ever focused on how lovingly protective she was holding him with her arms supporting him and her hand curled around to caress his little chubby fingers. And he emanates contentment. Knowing their future as we look back on that photo is heartbreaking.