This is a good summary.
Extract from the Daily Telegraph 12th August
“His Majesty the King (Willem-Alexander) announces with great regret that this morning his highness Prince Johan Friso ... died at the Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague, aged 44,” a palace statement said.
The palace statement said that the prince, who was based in London with his wife and two children, “died from complications as a result of oxygen shortages during his ski accident.”
He had “minimal consciousness” and his condition was unchanged, the palace said.
It then took nearly 50 minutes to resuscitate the prince after he was pulled from the snow – time that may have caused permanent damage, said Dr Wolfgang Koller, head of trauma at the Innsbruck hospital.
The prince was taken to the private Wellington Hospital in London for treatment, and in November the royal family said he was showing signs of “minimal consciousness” – leading to hopes that he was returning to health.
His wife, Princess Mabel, a highly-respected human rights specialist, was CEO of Nelson Mandela’s Global Elders group until she resigned following his accident, to keep a vigil at his bedside.
But in July this year, 17 months after his accident, the prince was moved back to The Hague, which some have seen as a sign that he was going to be allowed to die in his native country.
However Selma Tromp, vice president of the Netherlands Society of Neurology, told The Daily Telegraph she believed he was moved back to The Hague because there was no further hospital treatment available to him, and he was to be given home care.
“There’s no suggestion that the life support machine was turned off by doctors,” she said.
“The palace said he died from complications, so it doesn’t sound like there was anything electronic that was being used to keep him alive. He was stable.
“But complications are very common for patients in a coma.”
Mark Rutte, the prime minister, described it as “a black and sad day,” and said that his thoughts were with the family – in particular his mother Beatrix, who abdicated in April, becoming Princess Beatrix.
“For Princess Beatrix the loss is indescribably great,” he said. “A child dying is the worst that can happen to a parent.”
Prince Friso’s wife was said to have spent Sunday – the day of her 45th birthday – at his bedside.
Dutch television stations on Monday night altered their schedules to broadcast tributes to the prince, who was much loved in the Netherlands. END
So sad for Princess Mabel.