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Belgium’s royal family fought back Wednesday against a tell-all book on life inside the palace, saying it was asking for the opinion of the country’s journalistic ethics board.
“The Palace announces it has seized the Journalistic Deontology Council over possible ethical breaches by the author of ‘Royal Question’,” a short statement said.
Mainly based on anonymous sources, the 304-page book by Frederic Deborsu, a journalist at the RTBF state TV and radio network, hit bookshelves in French- and Dutch-speaking Belgium a week ago.
Its tidbits on King Albert II and Queen Paola, as well as their offspring, have infuriated the palace, which on the eve of its publication denounced it’s “many totally erroneous and slanderous details”.
The Belga news agency quoted the palace as saying it decided to fight back “after long reflection” though “it is not our tradition to react to this sort of talk”.
Deborsu dwells at length on the fate of the Belgian throne, describing the 78-year-old monarch as “weary and tired” and his 52-year-old son Prince Philippe as “frustrated”.
The journalist says the king had hoped to abdicate next year but that the rise of the separatist movement in northern Flanders has forced him to stay on until 2014 elections.