Miro Kuzmanovic / Reuters, file

Prince Johan Friso poses at the Austrian alpine ski resort of Lech on February 19, 2011. He gave up his right to the Dutch throne when he married a commoner.

AMSTERDAM -- Austrian doctors treating the Dutch Prince Johan Friso said Friday that he suffered "massive brain damage" after being buried by an avalanche last week and he may never regain consciousness.

Doctor Wolfgang Koller said MRI scans had showed his brain may have suffered lasting harm in the avalanche in Lech on Feb. 17.

"It is clear that the oxygen starvation has caused massive brain damage to the patient," Koller said. "At the moment, it cannot be predicted if he will ever regain consciousness."

The 43-year-old prince will be moved at a later date to a private clinic for further treatment but it may take years before he awakens, if ever.

Upscale resort
The prince was skiing with one companion near the upscale western resort of Lech but away from marked ski runs when the mass of snow, about 100 feet wide and 130 feet long, hit them around midday, the Austria Press Agency said.

The Dutch royal family often spends winter holidays in Lech in the province of Vorarlberg, which like other parts of Austria has been blanketed with heavy snow in recent weeks.

Prince Johan Friso's older brother is Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his younger brother is Prince Constantijn.

Johan Friso gave up his right to the Dutch throne when he married a commoner whose past was considered too tainted for her to become a member of the Dutch royal house.

When he asked for official permission in 2003 to marry Mabel Wisse Smit, Dutch media published details of her relationship with mobster Klaas Bruinsma, who was shot and killed in 1991 in front of the Amsterdam Hilton hotel.

Dutch prince's life 'still in danger'

Following the revelations, the couple decided not to get official permission for their marriage.

The London-based prince joined URENCO, a uranium enrichment company, in 2011 as chief financial officer after earlier working at investment bank Goldman Sachs.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Australia's 'dingo baby' mystery finally solved?
• Beijing's pollution could cut 5 years off lifespan, expert says
• Clinton: Syria rebels will get arms 'somehow'
• NBC's Kabul correspondent discusses Quran outrage
• Hacked arms and legs display the despair of Somalia
• Michael Jordan sues for control of his name in China
• Ancient Maya doom teaches climate lesson
• US pro-democracy worker stopped at Egypt airport

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• 'Absolutely brilliant': NYT's Shadid remembered
• Strait of Hormuz: Iranians, smugglers and fireworks
• Robbers loot Greece's Ancient Olympia museum
• Pentagon details downsizing of US forces in Europe
• 1 year on, wounded photojournalist reflects on Arab Spring