Del Boy never marries. He has had many girlfriends, a fact that is the subject of numerous sarcastic comments by Rodney. He finally meets his partner Raquel Turner (whom he calls his "significant other") in the 1988 special "Dates". Del's mother Joan dies on 12 March 1964, apparently after a long string of illnesses. His lazy father Reginald leaves three months later (on Del's 16th birthday), taking most of their money and even Del's birthday cake. This leaves the teenage Del as the family's sole breadwinner, looking after his grandfather and Rodney, his half-brother who was born around thirteen years after him
Del Boy is shown to respect Del's ability to look after himself, his hard work and his devotion to his mother. In "Sleepless in Peckham", Del tells Raquel that was told to call Robdal "Uncle Fred", not knowing until years later that Robdal was Rodney's father. In the final scene, Del labels Robdal as "a professional burglar, disloyal to his friends, a womaniser, a home-breaker, a con-man, a thief, a liar, and a cheat". This is long after he has realised that Robdal is Rodney's real father, so this knowledge apparently causes him to resent Robdal greatly. Del Boy's year of birth