Prince Friso in Critical Condition Following Skiing Accident; February 17th, 2012

[Tarlita]

His accident made the TV news here either Friday night or Saturday morning. But I haven't seen anything since, which doesn't mean, nothing has been mentioned since. We have an ethnic TV channel here showing Dutch German Russian French Greek & Arabic news etc. So the accident may have been mentioned on several of these and I didn't see it. Hoping for the best for him.

[Baroness of Books]

Insightful words, Princess Kaimi. I think most of the shock also has to do with the fact that they were on vacation and you wouldn't think anything would happen during a fun-loving, relaxed time, but when you engage in a high-risk activity such as skiing the percentage of injury or death can increase. And anything can and will happen. Look at the late actress Natasha Richardson, who slipped and fell at the base of a ski slope and wasn't wearing a helmet, and died of a brain clot or hemorrhage soon afterward. And she wasn't even skiing. Unfortunately, you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or may make decisions that can have dire consequences. Nevertheless, there is always hope that because the body is a mysterious machine it can recover/repair itself in some way. U.S. Senator Gabrielle Giffords, to whom you were referring, is such an example - shot in the head and making an amazing, albeit slow, recovery.

Also, his children's names are Zaria and Luana but I don't know their ages. I'm sure someone on the board can help out.

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by PrincessKaimi

How old are those darling children and what are their names?

Their eldest daughter has the given name Emma, but is known as Luana instead, she's almost 7. Their second daughter had the given name Joanna but is known as Zaria instead, she's almost 6.

[ricarda]

Originally Posted by katherine2001

It seems like there have been a lot of avalanches this year. There have been several this winter here in Montana and several have died in them, including very experienced skiers and snowboarders.

It's mostly the very experienced skiers and snowboarders who die in avalanches because the unexperienced ones usually don't leave the safe zones. The Finnish skier who died today was also off the regular pist. An Austrian Alpine official said that people are skiing everywhere despite massive avalanche warning because the danger is apparently part of the fun (motto: No risk, no fun. The riskier, the funnier). Why a father of 2 very young children takes such a risk is beyond me, I dare say.

I wish Johan Friso a full recovery, for his children and wife and family. So far he has been very lucky (rescued after only 15-20 minutes, no other people harmed), hopefully his luck will continue.

[lucien]

TRH The Prince of Orange and Princess Mabel arrived at the hospital halve an hour ago.It is the first time Alexander will see his brother after the accident.

In a statement issued by the RVD on behalve of HM she expresses the deep gratitude for all the support and attention she and Princess Mabel and all other members of her family receive.Her Majesty says she and all other members of the RF are deeply touched,and that they find comfort in this sad time.

There also was the request not to either film nor photograph the children of Prince Friso and Princess Mabel anymore as of tomorrow.The two girls had been almost harassed and photographed extremely often these past few days in Lech.

PM Mark Rutte will leave for his popstponed wintersport holiday tomorrow but will remain in close contact with HM and the RVD and will immediatly return if need be.

Communiqué issued this evening by the RVD on behalve of Her Majesty:

http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/globale.../english/news/

[Royal Newbie]

Originally Posted by lucien

There also was the request not to either film nor photograph the children of Prince Friso and Princess Mabel anymore as of tomorrow.The two girls had been almost harassed and photographed extremely often these past few days in Lech.

They have been harassing those poor little girls? That is awful.

[Viv]

Originally Posted by ricarda

An Austrian Alpine official said that people are skiing everywhere despite massive avalanche warning because the danger is apparently part of the fun (motto: No risk, no fun. The riskier, the funnier). Why a father of 2 very young children takes such a risk is beyond me, I dare say.

Many newspaper reports over the years have led me to believe that especially many young 'flatlanders' like Danes (and now Dutch) are tempted to go off piste! Because they only have a superficial knowledge of mountains and alpine skiing they don't pay sufficient attention to the actual dangers! Unfortunately many fool themselves into believing that nothing can happen them because they think they are in control.

In Denmark there's a similar phenomenon at the Jutland West Coast:
every summer several 'inland' tourist are either losing their lives or drifting away from the beach because they're unfamiliar with the sea and its nature and especially, the treacherous undercurrents in this particular part of the North Sea. Most Danes know this because they have warned by their parents from early on.

viv

[Sister Morphine]

Originally Posted by Royal Newbie

They have been harassing those poor little girls? That is awful.

Leave it to the paparazzi to know how to cross the line. I'm neither surprised, nor sickened, by what I hear re: their behavior. I've come to understand that this is what they do, and they do it well.

[Baroness of Books]

They earn their paycheck feeding off the misery of others.

[NGalitzine]

Originally Posted by Baroness of Books

They earn their paycheck feeding off the misery of others.

Yes, but they earn it because there is a market for it,,,,,,the general public keep these people in business.

[XeniaCasaraghi]

I would have thought that at a time like this that photographers would be more respectful to the family. Not even harassing the wife or mother, but the freakin children!

[Baroness of Books]

Unfortunately, as NGalitzine pointed out, there's a market for this and no boundaries to even showing the vulnerability of the children; a case of supply and demand.

[NGalitzine]

Exactly, as long as we, the general public, buy the tabloids and magazines that publish the pictures and other similarly invasive pictures of celebrities editors will pay the photographers for them. In the end it is the public that keep these people in business.

[PrincessKaimi]

The story would still be read, even with stock photos (the way the Royal Forum lead article is doing it). Stock photos should indeed be used in cases like this. An editor could enforce this.

Three more people died in an avalanche in the Western United States today. Apparently, the snow this year is extremely dense and heavy and avalanche-prone. To me, of course, snow is snow (I'm like those Dutch flatlanders - I know nothing about snow and was very surprised to learn how many different kinds there are; I too have fallen when I thought I wasn't going to, on hard packed snow - so I can relate to poor Natasha, I still have pain from the injury - but I had no idea how slippery snow could be - thought it was only ice that was slippery).

Anyway, it's a very avalanche prone year, in the places where it has snowed.

[Dazzling Tiara]

Today 2 skiers were killed and 8 others are missing in an avalanche in the Cascade Mountains near Seattle. They were skiing off piste. Not only were they foolish to ski off piste, but other people are forced to put their lives in danger to rescue them. I do hope the prince recovers, but people should use their common sense in situations like this.

As for critical care units, I think that different hospitals have different rules. In the critical care unit of our local hospital, all the rooms are private rooms with glass fronts. Family members are allowed to stay 24-hours a day if they wish. You are only asked to leave if they are working on the patient and then not always.

[Sunnystar]

Originally Posted by Dazzling Tiara

Today 2 skiers were killed and 8 others are missing in an avalanche in the Cascade Mountains near Seattle. They were skiing off piste. Not only were they foolish to ski off piste, but other people are forced to put their lives in danger to rescue them. I do hope the prince recovers, but people should use their common sense in situations like this.

As for critical care units, I think that different hospitals have different rules. In the critical care unit of our local hospital, all the rooms are private rooms with glass fronts. Family members are allowed to stay 24-hours a day if they wish. You are only asked to leave if they are working on the patient and then not always.

It was three people who were killed and all of the missing have been found, thankfully.

All missing in Wash. avalanche accounted for - Yahoo! News

[Dazzling Tiara]

Great news, Sunnystar.

[anele14]

is dead?

[PrincessKaimi]

Prince Friso is not dead.

Four people now dead in two separate incidents in Washington (and then there's another, a person from Finland, skiing somewhere in Europe) within the past 48 hours or so:

Four dead in two incidents in Washington avalanches

People who are familiar with avalanches say that there are avalanche prediction systems that are very accurate and that the people in Washington were all skiing/snow boarding off-piste. It has become very common to do so.

[genegirl99]

Praying everything goes well. This reminds me of waiting for news of Dan Weldon. All I could pray was "help!" I don't have the sense of foreboding this time.

Back in 2001 my grandma had what might have been a stroke. A lot of my cousins came to the hospital. We had loads of fun in the hospital going to the cafeteria (to get coffee, tea and hot chocolate) and waking around the hospital despite the serious situation. My younger cousins were about Friso's daughters ages at the time. Grandma recovered and passed away three years ago this year. One of the last times she was hospitalized it wasn't that much fun, although we did make it to the cafeteria again for ice cream and drinks.