Noel Vaessen is getting sued by Count Michel Didisheim. Vaessen said that Didesheim, who used to work at court, is a half brother of the king and an illegitemate son of King Leopold III. Didisheim is angry (understandably) and is going to sue.... more costs for Vaessen
In French: here.
I agree with you, CaliforniaDreamin. He looks a lot like his alleged brothers. Also, it's quite a coincidence that his book is about an illegitimate child... But that doesn't necessarily make Vaessen's statements true.
Anyway, other dirt from Vaessen (cuz that's what we're here for, right?): not only Albert II would allegedly rather not see his eldest son succeed him, even Boudewijn himself seemed to have had his doubts about Philippe (according to Vaessen, of course) and would have rather seen Laurent on the throne. Boudewijn is even rumoured to have said that Laurent is the true genius of the family, and apparently he had nearly decided to give up on Philippe and to focus on getting Laurent ready for the throne.
Which is of course easy to say when the one man who knows the truth about this matter isn't exactly in a position to speak.
(source: Dag Allemaal, which devoted some 4 pages to the book)
King Laurent I. that´s indeed a nice bonmot by Vaessen.
Last year this selfdeclared owner of the truth was describing the situation the very same way as CaliforniaDreamin. In the beginning of 2007 the tabloid Het Laatste Nieuws came up with three sensational articles on Laurent´s life as witnessed by Vaessen (seems he had an exclusive deal with HLN Back then). According to Vaessen himself he was hired in 1993 to temper Laurent. The latter should have gotten mad (literally) over the change of succession. Laurent was convinced it was all done to get him away from the throne, he didn´t believe a millisecond that gender equality was Baudouin´s motivation to change the law. Laurent was then seeking revenge and put together a dossier with embarrassing and hurtful facts about Albert (amongst other things also infos on Delphine). Rudy Bogaerts, his former teacher, should have supported Laurent in this detective work. Bogaerts was the perfect partner in crime since he felt humiliated for not being mentioned in Laurent´s CV. To make a long story short. Albert and Paola got very angry about Laurent´s actions, they thought their son was obsessed and Vaessen was hired as some kind of supernanny for Laurent. Vaessen claims he tried to reconcile the lost son with his parents. But that didn´t work out the way he wanted and Laurent slipped more and more into a depression and finally faked a suicide to get some attention. He then was conferred to a psychiatric hospital (this is definitely true) but fooled the doctors there. When he left the hospital not much had changed and he continued to humiliate his family, preferably during the remembrance services for King Baudouin, much to the disguise of the Luxembourgian branch of the family. Vaessen also described Laurent as unhappy and lonely but also rather clumsy person who thought of himself as a genius. Alas, he wasn’t that clever and performed some very confusing talks with Nobel Prize winners and couldn’t get a straight word out of his mouth when he met ministers. All in all no hint of Baudouin lobbying for King Laurent I.
King Laurent I. that´s indeed a nice bonmot by Vaessen.
Well nevermind that was last years talk and Vaessen certainly is not very impressed by his very own words anymore. Paper doesn´t blush and the pages had to be filled with…whatever. And with all respect, Vaessen does come across as pretty weird person who takes his readers for a fool and I bet the next thing he does is claiming to get death threats, he also did the same thing when his first book was published.
As for Didesheim, a well respected person indeed, there are so many books, articles and interviews out there who hint that he is the son of Leopold III. Last time I read about this was in an interview with Mario Danneels only two months ago and Didesheim didn´t react at all. Most likely he is really fed up by all this now, but I also wonder if all this recent press talk also is about promoting his book. But perhaps I´m just too sarcastic today.
No, not during the funeral. Vaessen had it about the annual remembrance mass for the late members of the RF in February. At the end of the service the family always visits the crypt. And Laurent (according to Vaessen) was reflecting upon the tombs. He found it rather unfair that some got a huge tomb while others had to do with a small stone plate, He then should have asked himself loudly what he would get “Nana. Cola. Blabla. Basta.” perhaps. All according to Vaessen.
Alas, both Alberts, the one of Belgium and the other from Monaco, as well as Rainier should have opposed the marriage. Too bad, this would have been a real power couple. :stuart: And he has gotten his five minutes of fame now and already is on his way to become non-news again and quite telling, the Belgian online bookstore azur sells his book in the category “fiction”. And that´s finally well-deserved.
No, not during the funeral. Vaessen had it about the annual remembrance mass for the late members of the RF in February. At the end of the service the family always visits the crypt. And Laurent (according to Vaessen) was reflecting upon the tombs. He found it rather unfair that some got a huge tomb while others had to do with a small stone plate, He then should have asked himself loudly what he would get “Nana. Cola. Blabla. Basta.” perhaps. All according to Vaessen.
And since LadyLeana introduced Monaco - another 2007 rumour by Vaessen was about Laurent and Stephanie of Monaco planning to tie the knot.
All in all Vaessen is just so into the “the more the merrier” strategy rumourwise and many things are so obviously made up that you have to ask yourself if Vaessen thinks of his readers as brainless fools. I also can recommend watching him on tv, it´s like bad comedy and it all gets worse when he opens his mouth and starts to talk.
Not that the Belgian royals are innocent little angels, far from that, but I think it will be impossible for him to proof most of his allegations, simply because he just invented them or blows things out of proportion. I mean how to proof the IVF rumour, or Didesheim being the son of Leopold III, or Philippe throwing his underwear onto the chandeliers, or Laurent planning to wed Stephanie? He just knows he gets through with it since the RF isn´t in the habit of going to court or even commenting on such rumours. His first book already was full of unproven statements and nothing did happen, so why not try it a second time and cash in again?
Do you know when and where you can buy it?
