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Frank Van Beek / AFP - Getty Images, file
Prince Friso and Princess Mabel on a skiing trip with their daughters Luana and Zaria last winter.
Updated at 4:57 p.m. ET: An avalanche buried and seriously injured the second son of Dutch Queen Beatrix while he skied off marked trails Friday in the westernmost corner of Austria and he was rushed to the intensive care unit of an Innsbruck hospital, officials said.
The Dutch government, which initially said 43-year-old Johan Friso's life was in danger later issued an update saying "his condition is stable but not out of danger."
"Her Majesty the Queen and (Friso's wife) Princess Mabel are with Prince Friso," the Dutch statement said, adding that "doctors treating him will only be able to give a prognosis in a matter of days."
Stefan Jochum, a spokesman for the Lech ski area where the accident occurred, said Friso's condition was serious but his life was no longer at risk.
Jochum said the accident happened early Friday afternoon as the prince and other skiers were on slopes away from marked Lech ski runs and laden with snow after weeks of record falls.
The Lech municipal office said a regional avalanche warning issued for the day was four on the five-point scale, meaning the danger was high.
"A snow slide came down and the prince was buried as the only member of the group," said Jochum in a telephone interview. A rescue helicopter was on the scene within minutes, and after Friso was located, he was resuscitated on the scene and flown to the hospital, Jochum said.
The Austria Press Agency earlier cited Lech Mayor Ludwig Muxel as saying Friso was buried for about 20 minutes by a snow mass that measured more than 30 yards by 40 yards when it hit him.
Friso was in Lech with other members of the royal family. Friso, the second of Beatrix's three sons, married Dutch commoner Mabel Wisse Smit, in 2004. The pair have two daughters, Countess Luana, 6, and Countess Zaria, 5.
Most recently Friso has worked as financial director at Urenco, the European uranium-enrichment consortium.
The crucial moment in his life as a member of the Dutch nobility came with his 2003 engagement to then-commoner Wisse Smit.
After the pair announced their intention to marry in 2003, Dutch media revealed that Wisse Smit's previous friendships included contacts while she was in college with a well-known figure in the Dutch underworld, a drug dealer who was later slain.
The couple publicly acknowledged having been "naive and incomplete" during her vetting process before joining the royal family. Then-Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende signaled he could not recommend the marriage to parliament for approval.
They married anyway, a decision that meant Friso's removal from the line of succession.
The couple are still part of Beatrix's family and attend important royal functions. Mabel has been granted the title "Princess Mabel" and Friso has an array of noble titles, including "Prince of Oranje-Nassau" — but not "Prince of the Netherlands."
The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Austin Powers' dad is thrilled to hear this news. It's a bummer I suppose, but a rich Lying Dutchman is the least of my concerns, I gotta go to work.
Hey people, this man didn't have any choice in his being born a prince. I personally would not want to be born into royalty myself because from birth, you cannot have any privacy and you must live by strict guidelines your entire life. I wish him a speedy recovery!
I just had this discussion yesterday with a few friends. Whenever there is a story that allows comments, you're bound to find more than half of the comments are people arguing with each other, often over something not even related to the story. I never would have thought so many news readers would be so immature. Baffling really. I blame the internet. If you were all in a room face to face, I doubt you'd act this way. Perhaps we should just not allow comments on any news sites anymore. Or perhaps we should create some new jobs out of this and have "comment post moderators" paid $14 an hour (what I think minimum wage should be) to verify that posts are fit to even be posted.
As for the story, hope he turns out alright. I have a relative who suffered brain injury this summer and is still recovering. It's definitely an ordeal for any family to go through regardless of what they were born into..
Wow! So many mean spirited posts. My heart goes out to the prince and his family. Everyone should have empathy and sympathy for anyone buried under an avalanche and deepest concern for his family. Lighten up you nasty people.
Nothing but stupid comments posted here. What else is new?
Prayers for him and his family.
Uh, no one is saying he wasn't, you ignorant, generalizing foreigner.
Condolences to the Dutch Royal Family and the Dutch people. Glad to hear its not more serious, it sounds like he will make a full recovery.
Well now if he doesn't make I would love to console his princess of a wife...looks quite hittable!
Gunsr4wimps - Creep!
Hey Summertime bend over and take it the hard way!
The search for the 12 missing peasants has not yet been called off as it was never started in the first place.
I really hope he pulls through. I'm half-Dutch myself. On a side note, damn his wife is hot.
shoulda had a snowmobile, woulda got away.
I hope your prince recovers. I didn't see any information on others caught in the avalanche but I hope that everyone is safe and in good (or at least recovering) health. Best wishes to the Prince and his kinsfolk!
Hey Grand pappy .. er uh excuse me 'Grandfather-02041741' Why don't you go trolling along with the other insensitive morons who post here. Have respect for other human beings ... trollhead. Wishing a speedy recovery to the prince ... may his family share in the joy of having him back.. ... Peace ...
I believe he was simply commenting on the lack of pertinent information relating to the actual incident and the Prince's condition - i.e. the article provided more info about his family structure than what happened. By the way, this was before the article was updated. How was he not having respect for other human beings?
Yeah have some respect, you expect these people to sit here and keep name calling everyone that doesn't support the recovery of some idiot that took a risk and paid the price, if he had died these same people would say "he died doing what he loved" don't be such an ignorant American!
Seems all the haters are from one political party, the party of compassion ! ya, right, the party of no shame and ignorance. Liberals compassion is on full display once again ! The only thing liberals are compassionate about is hate. Nobody hates and divides better than liberals ! NOBODY !
Steve, Americans have a schizophrenic reaction to royalty; when we're not worshipping someone like the late Princess Di, we show our instinctive revulsion to the whole concept. George Washington turned down an offer to be king, and we've done without them every since.
Scary! Thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
So sorry to hear of the accident. I will pray for a speedy recovery.
Om Prins Fasio Ik stuur genezing en Gods zegen..
You want boring news; read some of the tripe about actors/actresses and their drug habits or read more tripe about professional athletes, or read more pablum about diets.
Wiliam, I put all such news about celebrity in the same category.
I got "buried" in a lot of "snow" throughout the 1980's.
In the years I have been reading comments to news stories, one thing has struck me as being very sad. There are so many people out there full of hate. Why? Just because someone was born into the peerage, is that any reason to hate them? I wonder about the intelligence level of all those people who seem to have nothing better to do than spit their bile and show their ignorance with their bad spelling and grammar. I do agree that if you can't say something nice, then say nothing at all, and spare the rest of us from having to navigate around the cesspool of your own mind.
p.s. Hve you ever heard of a spell checker?
deadbeat...beautifully said.
Your post disproves that.
I shall pray for a full and speedy recovery of His Royal Highness and for the comfort of his family. God speed, Sir.
"Most recently Friso has worked as financial director at Urenco, the European uranium-enrichment consortium."
Here's food for thought, wonder with his high profile position, like the nuclear scientists; if he was targeted with a made to look like accident in retaliation of Iran by foreign agents? It would have been easy enough to set up, if he was being watched for the opportunity and if there's a grudge against the European consortium pulling the strings in that field and made to look like an act of nature in that environment while taking out the head man.
Hope the Prince recovers quickly and without side effects.
roflmfao.
Are you a voter?
I pray for the Prince to recover, fully, and for his family to stay strong. These two precious little girls need their father.
Maybe he can use a snow day, oh thats right he probably
doesnt work. As for the other serfs buried alive, they
are waiting for the spring thaw. To look at him, and his
wife, I would say she married for love.
I have never associated or worked for royalty,
but I have the rich. If he is anything like them,
he would be at his chalet sipping champagne,
and couldnt care less.