Last but not least: Telenovela Royal - the royal family calls on the Press Council for help
The Belgian royal family is fighting back against a new book that contains alleged revelations about the royal family. The palace has now filed a complaint with the Press Council.
Following its publication last week, the book has dominated the headlines in Belgium. In it, Frédéric Deborsu touched on a number of sensitive topics, such as rumors about Queen Paola's alleged infidelities and the "intense friendship" of heir to the throne Philippe with another man. The book also suggests that Philippe and Princess Mathilde's four children were the result of artificial insemination and claims that their marriage was "arranged" by the palace. According to SDA, the journalist often refers to anonymous witnesses to support the alleged revelations, which are often more implied than stated.
As the palace announced in Brussels on Wednesday, the complaint to the Press Council was about "possible breaches of professional ethics". At the same time, according to SDA, the palace considered its actions to be "not in keeping with the tradition of the house". However, the palace had already reacted to previously leaked excerpts and criticized "numerous totally erroneous pieces of information". Now the Press Council should clarify whether the author of the book "Questions Royales" (Royal Questions), the journalist Frédéric Deborsu, had "overstepped the boundaries", the palace explained.
The public broadcaster RTBF, where Deborsu works, has already distanced itself from him. Should the Press Council now prevent journalist Frédéric Deborsu from further disseminating his work, possible fields of employment are already being collected here for the author's benefit:
- The author could take a basic course in citing sources and then try his luck again - in tabloid journalism.
- Perhaps a broadcaster could be found to produce and broadcast a telenovela from the book, but with names such as Prince Phil and Princess Hilde, to avoid a too close connection to the royal family.
- Frédéric Deborsu could wash his own clothes twice, instead of the dirty laundry of others, and then go in search of stories that actually have an inherent value and are of general interest.
- Last but not least, the author of the book could simply switch to the satirical side in order to avoid further reports to the Press Council with the remark: "Oh, that wasn't meant to be so serious, even the royal family has to be able to laugh at itself sometimes".
