Prince Friso and Princess Mabel, Current Events 1 (August 2003 - September 2006)


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Tina

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Johan Friso
 

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I can't help but think Beatrix would privately be spitting feathers about this.

After the controversy over Maxima's background, the Queen must have been even more determined to avoid the British way and then the whole Margarita fiasco and now problems with her second son's bride!!!!

Perhaps she'll be contacting Queen Elizabeth II and asking her for advice on how to handle so many scandals and difficulties, I can't help but think that Beatrix is going to face more in the coming years.
 
Originally posted by Janet@Aug 23rd, 2003 - 4:33 pm
I can't help but think Beatrix would privately be spitting feathers about this.

I doubt it. It's all in the family. Many consider Queen Beatrix's father Prince Bernhard as a main player in the #1 shady group in the world -- Bilderberg group, the Council of Foreign Relations, the Rockefellars and Rothchild's, all one and the same.

Also keep in mind that Mabel has been involved with 2 shady characters from her past, and birds of a feather flock together and all that............................there's a reason the Dutch royals are the richest and most discrete of all the royals. :ninja:
 
Off GREMB at October 10, 2003, 13:53:02 it said:

"The Prime-Minister of the Netherlands will hold a pressconference at 14:30 h in which he will anounce that the government will NOT seek Parliamentary consent for the Marriage of Prince Johan-Friso and Miss Mabel Wisse Smit.

Not known yet is if the marriage will go ahead or that the Prince will dump Mabel."
 
I don't know what kind of marriage it will be, but because JF will not ask for permission he will not be reserve king anymore. So he can marry Mabel but he/she won't be back-up king/queen
 
According to "The Benelux Royals Message Board"
of Oct 10, 2003, 16:28:59

Prince Johan Friso has renounced his succession-rights, and in that manner follows in the footsteps of two of his aunts.
 
She won't be Princess of the Netherlands. IF she's extremely lucky she may get Princess of Orange-Nassau, but, if they succeed in stripping Friso of all his titles, she may be only the Dutch word that begins w/ J (jonkeer?) von Claus's last name pre marriage.
 
From BBC Online
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3181514.stm


_39436758_friso_story_afp.jpg

Prince Johan said the marriage would go ahead as planned


Dutch prince renounces throne

Dutch Prince Johan Friso has effectively renounced his right of succession to the throne, after the government refused to support his forthcoming marriage.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he would not seek parliament's permission for the marriage because the couple had given misleading information about the bride's relationship with a dead gangster.

But Prince Johan - who is second in line to the throne - said his marriage to human rights activist Mabel Wisse Smit would go ahead regardless.

Under Dutch law, royals who aspire to the throne must receive permission from the government and parliament to marry as the cabinet will bear responsibility for their actions.

Ms Wisse Smit admitted earlier this year that she had vaguely known Klaas Bruinsma - whose organisation allegedly dealt in drugs and carried out contract killings - while she was a student.

Boat trips

Last week, however, one of Bruinsma's former bodyguards told Dutch TV that the two had had an affair.

The allegations led Ms Wisse Smit to confess to regular contact with Bruinsma, including several overnight trips in his boat, while continuing to deny any romantic relationship.

Mr Balkenende said the situation was a painful one for the government and the monarchy.

"The couple had provided information that was not complete and not correct, which has harmed the confidence (of the government)," he said at a press conference on Friday.

In his letter to Mr Balkenende, Prince Johan stuck to his position that there was not any romantic or business relationship between his fiancee and Bruinsma.

The affair, dubbed "Mabelgate", is the latest in a string of controversies that have plagued the Dutch royal liaisons.

Crown Prince Willem Alexander, next in line to the throne to succeed Queen Beatrix, sparked a storm when he proposed to an Argentine whose father served in the military junta.

Queen Beatrix's own marriage to German-born Claus in the 1960s triggered riots.


SUCCESSION TO THE DUTCH THRONE (SONS OF QUEEN BEATRIX)
1. Crown Prince Willem Alexander, Prince of Orange
2. Prince Johan Friso (claim now renounced)
3. Prince Constantijn
 
ulia 
Posted: Oct 10th, 2003 - 3:28 pm

Wow! With all that has been going on with the Danish royals I have not been paying attention to what's been going on in the house of Orange-Nassau! So, Johan-Friso has given up his rights to the throne to marry Mabel. Must be true love!!
Julia,
I don't think its true love.

I think if you read ...
King Christian  Posted: Oct 10th, 2003 - 11:29 am
http://members3.boardhost.com/Beneluxroyal/msg/90
... it could be interpreted that Prince Johan Friso has made a bad decision with the timing of revealing of her history; and given her apparent past 'success' with powerful men, this might have swayed JF into the present course of action.

For the two of them, I hope the best for their forthcoming marriage. But there are precedents among his aunts of bad marriages, so I wonder how long JF's future marriage will last?
 
Julia  Posted: Oct 10th, 2003 - 5:12 pm

Ok, perhaps I will sound naive and stupid but why would he ask her to marry him and then reveal her torrid past?
Because
... she has success with men
... so, it goes to follow that JF has never had anything that exciting before ?

... so, he knows he's goofed, and his standing among his brothers would be greatly reduced if he called it off?
 
From cnn.com

Prince gives up throne for love

story.royaldutch.jpg



AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The prince who is second in line to the Dutch throne has given up his right of succession after failing to win government approval to wed his fiancee.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he could not support the marriage between Prince Johan Friso and a woman alleged to have had a relationship with a gangster.

Friso wrote to the prime minister to say he would still marry Mabel Wisse Smit and give up his succession to the throne.

Under Dutch law, royals who aspire to the throne must receive permission from the government and parliament to marry.

"The couple had provided information that was not complete and not correct, which has harmed the confidence (of the government)," Balkenende told a news conference Friday, Reuters reported.

"This is not good for the royal family but I would not call it a crisis."

Wisse Smit, 35, became engaged to Friso in June after a career with the United Nations and human rights organizations.

But reports have surfaced that she had a relationship with Klaas Bruinsma -- a criminal shot dead in a gangland killing in 1991.

In August, nearly two months after their engagement, Wisse Smit issued a statement saying she had known Bruinsma for a few months while she was a student but had parted from him when she learned of "the practices he engaged in."

Last week a former bodyguard to Bruinsma said Wisse Smit had been the mobster's lover, which she denies.

Wisse Smit met with Balkenende last week and conceded she had had a closer relationship with Bruinsma than she had originally said, and that she had maintained contact with him for at least another 18 months, Reuters reported.

But she denied any business or romantic involvement.

Another former Bruinsma employee has attacked the bodyguard's credibility. And a female friend of Wisse Smit said she, not Wisse Smit, had actually been the gangster's girlfriend, Reuters added.

This is the latest Dutch royal match to have caused controversy.

The royal family came under fire when Crown Prince Willem-Alexander married Argentinean Maxima Zorreguieta last year.

The relationship sparked controversy when it emerged that Maxima's father had been a minister during the 1976-83 Argentinean military dictatorship.

Queen Beatrix's own marriage to German-born Claus triggered riots.

Diplomatic dignitaries have come to Wisse Smit's defense, saying she spent a career trying to help the oppressed.

Supporters include billionaire philanthropist George Soros and former French minister and U.N. envoy Bernard Kouchner.

"It is shocking that a person who has done so much for human rights in the world should be treated so badly in her own country because of a dubious accusation about an issue dating back 15 years, when she was in her early 20s,'' the group wrote in an open letter published in Dutch daily De Volkskrant on Thursday.

"As friends and colleagues, we support her totally.''

Wisse Smit, an economics and political science graduate, has worked for the United Nations, the Open Society Institute -- part of Soros' network -- and a non-governmental organization promoting democracy and stability in the Balkans.
 
It's a disgrace that they wouldn't he wouldn't allow him to marry her and keep his claim to the throne. Shame on the Parliament. I'm sure they are all perfect too. I'm sure most of them were allowed to marry who they wanted too.
 
Thank you samitude.

It does seem sad, but I guess they (and their partners) must all appear to be beyond reproach.

It's probably better to have come out now (before the wedding) rather than later..
 
I think Mabel also had affair with gangster! someone said that!

I dont believe that she had affair with gangster because i would give her for princess to be! or Johan will lose throne to become his future wife to be if both will still engagement processing if not!

Sara Boyce
 
In our country, we call it bad omen for the marriage. It'll always shdow their life. Besides, that renounced act may affect his children's standing in the royal court. Remember Jean of Luxenburg. His ends up in devoice. But, you never know, they may surprise you.
 
Friso chooses love over the throne (Mabelgate continues...)
10 October 2003

AMSTERDAM ? Prince Johan Friso and Mabel Wisse Smit, who is alleged to have had an affair with drugs kingpin Klaas Bruinsma, will not ask the Cabinet for permission to marry. This means the second son of Queen Beatrix will renounce his rights to ascend the Dutch throne.

Johan Friso is presently third in line to the throne behind his brother Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, an NOS news report said.

According to the Dutch Constitution, the baby of Prince Willem and Princess Maxima already counts as an heir to the throne, despite the fact he or she is not expected to be born until January.


PM: No cure against deceit


Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende informed Parliament on Friday about the latest twist to what is being described as the Mabel "moll" affair.

Balkenende said Mabel gave him "incomplete and incorrect" information during a conversation in June, damaging their relationship of trust. The Prime Minister became aware of the breach during a conversation on 3 October and informed the royal couple that the Cabinet could not approve the marriage, newspaper De Volkskrant reported.

And in a letter from the royal couple that Balkenende made public on Friday, Mabel admitted she had more than a superficial relationship with the drugs baron Bruinsma, who was shot and killed in Amsterdam in 1991. The letter also said the relationship was more intense than what she had earlier confessed to Balkenende.

But Mabel remained committed to claims she was not intimately involved with Bruinsma and the royal couple offered their apologies to the government, the Queen and everyone else who had been hurt by the scandal. Balkenende said the government accepted the apology.

The Prime Minister also said the damaged trust in Mabel was "not good for the Royal House", but he refused to describe the situation as a crisis. He also refused to answer questions over the reaction of Queen Beatrix.


The moll scandal has been simmering for weeks but reached boiling point after crime reporter Peter R. de Vries spoke with a former Bruinsma bodyguard, Charlie da Silva, who claimed that Mabel had a sexual relationship with the drugs baron and was aware of his criminal activities.

Mabel later admitted she had slept several nights on Bruinsma's luxury boat, but denied allegations of intimacy. Amid a flurry of accusations and refuted claims, 36-year-old Ottolien Lels came forward and admitted to having had a sexual relationship with Bruinsma and said that her friend Mabel was being wrongly accused of the affair.

Despite a government investigation into the matter and Socialist Party demands the royal wedding be delayed, it appeared that there was light at the end of the tunnel for Mabel.

Jochem Visser, the skipper of Bruinsma's competition sailing yacht, also claimed that Da Silva had confused Mabel with another woman who stayed with the mafia boss until he was gunned down in Amsterdam 1991. Lels said: "I am that woman".

A second bodyguard, Geurt Ross, and one of Bruinsma's "successors", Etienne Urka, also denied that Mabel had a sexual relationship with the mafia boss, known as the original Dutch godfather.

But two women, not linked to any criminal activities, later claimed that Mabel had more than a superficial relationship with Bruinsma, newspaper De Telegraaf reported.

One of the women, who was deeply involved in the sailing world, said she saw Mabel quite often with Bruinsma in 1989 at the Scheveningen yacht club after Autumn sailing races. She also said everyone knew that Mabel was Bruinsma's girlfriend.

Despite the accusations and the eventual confession from Mabel, the royal couple still intend to marry in Delft on April 24.

This is almost laughable :rolleyes:
 
the queen made no comment, but as she is the head of the goverment the prime ministers opinion officially is hers......she left for Italy yesterday I believe...
 
Alexandria  Posted: Oct 13th, 2003 - 10:26 am

THE HAGUE, Oct. 10 — Ordinarily so meticulous that she checks everything right down to her golden carriage, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was blindsided this week by a scandal involving her family and an organized crime figure.

Surprisingly, the queen's tour guide into the underworld turned out to be her son's fiancée, Mabel Wisse Smit, an ambitious young woman whose ties to one of the country's biggest mobsters were more extensive than she first admitted.

The queen's middle child, Prince Johan Friso, 35, admitted on Friday that he .... had been less than forthcoming about her contacts with Klaas Bruinsma, a gangster
imo this was a very BAD judgement on JF's part, and it looks to me that he knows that which is why he is taking himself out of the line of succession.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, visibly perturbed, went on national television to announce that his cabinet would not submit the couple's marriage to Parliament for its approval, a prerequisite for succession to the throne.

Prince Johan and his fiancée had given the government, including the queen, "incomplete and inaccurate" information regarding Ms. Smit's past, Mr. Balkenende said, and "there had been a breach in trust."

.... Ms. Smit is a respected member in European diplomatic and charity circles who has dedicated herself to human rights and the spread of democracy.

But her lack of candor
One questions I have, is:
1.) how much is this turn of events going to impact on her respected status ?

As I see it, this is a bad situation for the two of them, and I wonder if they will recover?
 
This is a big tado over possibly nothing -- taking the word of a hit man!

At any rate it is 2nd nature for the Dutch Royal family to be discrete, to hide everything they can. They just got caught on this one. And I'll bet my bottom dollar Queen Beatrix knew all about whatever from the start.

JF was raised to be circumspect and secretive, as they all were. Now he's being punished for same? If you can call it punishment? I doubt either one of them give a hoot about one of his titles.

However, someone who may care a great deal is the wife of the 3rd son, Princess Laurentin (sp?). I read somewhere she is quite ambitious and it was her goal to force loss of succession rights onto both of her husband's older brothers.
 
Originally posted by Alexandria@Oct 13th, 2003 - 7:20 pm
I doubt that even Laurentien could arrange it so that Maxima's daddy would be part of a dictatorship (or at least support one) and end up meeting the heir to the Dutch throne or that Johan Friso would end up meeting Mabel who had former connections to a mobster. Nobody could have that much forsight.
It's all about what spin is put to it. A negative or a postive picture can be put onto just about anyone who isn't a nun, and even then, I've known some nuns who...................... :lol:
 
Mafia Row Costs Prince Friso His Right to the Throne

13 OCTOBER 2003
The Netherlands' Prince Johan Friso has effectively renounced his claim to the throne after a scandal erupted over his fiancée's reported links with a murdered mafia boss.

Mabel Wisse Smit is alleged to have had a relationship with drugs kingpin Klaas Bruinsma, who died in a gangland shooting in 1991. The 35-year-old denies she was intimately involved with the underworld boss, but admits to spending nights on his boat. As a result Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende says she and Prince Johan gave him "incomplete and incorrect" information about her past.

And the prime minister has announced he will not submit the couple's marriage to parliament for approval. This means Prince Johan will lose his right to become king when he weds Mabel on April 24 next year. He and his fiancée, who is a highly-regarded human rights campaigner, have admitted to misleading the politician.

The prince was next in line to the throne after his brother Willem-Alexander. The crown prince and his Argentine wife Maxima Zorreguieta are expecting their first child, who will be second in line, in January.
 
Here, read this to know more. There's more news than Hello! Magazine in this National Post Newspaper.


http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.a...52-90F147FB221F


Prince gives up throne for love
'Mabelgate': Fiancée denies she was a gangster's lover 15 years ago

Peter Goodspeed
National Post


Saturday, October 11, 2003
ADVERTISEMENT


Prince Johan Friso of the Netherlands has decided to renounce his rights to the Dutch throne in order to marry a beautiful, blond human rights worker with a whiff of scandal in her past.

The 35-year-old Prince, who was second in line to the throne, said yesterday he would give up his right of succession because he could not win government approval for his planned marriage to Mabel Wisse Smit, a former Balkans expert with the United Nations, alleged to have had a love affair with a notorious Dutch gangster 15 years ago.

The Prince and his fiancée announced wedding plans in June and plan to marry on April 24.

Ms. Wisse Smit, a 35-year-old economics and political science graduate, has worked for several human rights groups and in 1994 established the European Action Council for Peace in the Balkans. Most recently, she was head of the Open Society Institute in Brussels, part of billionaire financier George Soros's humanitarian network.

Prince Johan Friso, a mechanical and aerospace engineer with a background in business, recently worked as a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs in London.

Under the Dutch constitution, married members of the House of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family, are eligible to ascend to the throne only if parliament has approved their wedding.

In Ms. Wisse Smit's case, she met Jan Peter Balkenende, the country's Prime Minister, for an initial interview in June and later underwent a cursory background check.

The government then announced it was prepared to introduce legislation approving the marriage.

But rumours surfaced, alleging Ms. Wisse Smit had had an affair with a notorious Dutch gangster and drug kingpin, Klaas Bruinsma.

She denied the allegations, saying she had no more than a superficial relationship with Mr. Bruinsma, whom she encountered at several sailing regattas 15 years ago, when she was a university student.

But two months later, after Dutch newspapers and television stations started to delve into her past, she issued a statement saying she had known Mr. Bruinsma for a few months, but had cut off all contact with him when she learned of "the practices he engaged in."

Mr. Bruinsma was known as the first "godfather" of Dutch organized crime and had a reputation as a ruthless and violent drug dealer. He smuggled tens of millions of dollars worth of illicit drugs into the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Scandinavian countries and Britain.

He was also implicated in several gangland murders and is said to have ordered the execution of one of his bodyguards. The man was later found stuffed in a steel drum filled with cement, after having had his legs and genitals cut off while he was still alive, then being shot in the face at close range.

In 1991, Mr. Bruinsma was gunned down in a gangland shooting in Amsterdam.

As the controversy surrounding the pending royal marriage grew, a Dutch television station tracked down Charlie Da Silva, one of Mr. Bruinsma's bodyguards, who now lives in Chile.

In an interview, the bodyguard claimed Ms. Wisse Smit had been his boss's lover, saying she regularly stayed on the gangster's luxury yacht and had been with him right up until his murder in 1991.

Ms. Wisse Smit denied the allegations, but admitted to spending a few nights on the yacht as a guest. She flatly denied having been intimate with Mr. Bruinsma.

Last week, Mr. Balkenende said he was calling in the Dutch secret service, the AIVD, to conduct a second background check into Ms. Wisse Smit.

In the meantime, public opinion polls conducted by Dutch newspapers showed that 70% of the populace believed the Prince's fiancée was lying. A debate raged over the integrity of a possible future Queen.

On Thursday, some of Ms. Wisse Smith's former colleagues, including Mr. Soros and Bernard Kouchner, a former French Cabinet minister and UN envoy, came to her defence.

In an open letter to the Dutch daily newspaper, De Volkskrant, they wrote: "It is shocking that a person who has done so much for human rights in the world should be treated so badly in her own country because of a dubious accusation about an issue dating back 15 years, when she was in her early 20s.

"As friends and colleagues, we support her totally."

Some of Mr. Bruinsma's associates also rallied to her cause.

Another former bodyguard, Geurt Ross, said Mr. da Silva was "a troll" who had deliberately exaggerated the relationship between Ms. Wisse Smit and Mr. Bruinsma.

The skipper of the yacht also claimed Mr. da Silva was mistaken and "another woman" had a long-term relationship with the gangster.

Finally, Ottolien Lels, a friend of Ms. Wisse Smit, said it was her, "not Mabel," who had had a long-term sexual relationship with the underworld boss.

Yesterday, the Prince moved to end the scandal by renouncing his right to become king and saying he will go ahead with the wedding.

In a letter, the Prince apologized to the government, his mother, Queen Beatrix, the Prime Minister and anyone the couple may have disappointed or hurt.

He said he was aware of the "relevant facts and details" of his fiancée's relationship with Mr. Bruinsma and insisted she was never involved in the gangster's criminal activities or intimately involved with him.

He said the couple had resolved not to be "secretive" about the matter, but intended to release as few details as possible. In hindsight, that decision may have been "naive and unwise," he added.

The line now passes from Queen Beatrix to Crown Prince Willem Alexander and then skips Prince Johan Friso to his younger brother, Prince Constantijn.

Mr. Balkenende said he told the royal family on Thursday his government would not endorse the marriage because Ms. Wisse Smit had given "incomplete and incorrect information, which has damaged confidence" in her.

He insisted he had done everything he could to prevent the controversy from spinning out of control. "But there is no cure against deceit," he said.

"Mabelgate," as the Dutch news media call the controversy, is not the first matrimonial scandal to plague the Dutch royal family.

Last year, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander's marriage to Argentinian Maxima Zorreguieta stirred debate because the bride's father, Jorge Zorreguieta, had served in Cabinet during Argentina's military dictatorship from 1976-83.

Parliament reluctantly approved the match after it determined Mr. Zorreguieta had not been personally involved in any human rights violations during Argentina's "dirty war" against leftists.

Queen Beatrix's own marriage to German-born Claus von Amsberg was marred by protests in 1966, because the former diplomat had belonged to the Hitler Youth during the Second World War.

pgoodspeed@nationalpost.com

© Copyright 2003 National Post
 
That's a bit presumptuous to deny Friso and Mabel the right to marry purely for a fling she had back 20 years ago. Doesn't seem right at all...well, this proves that Friso loves Mabel a lot, a lot to give up his place in the line of succession- second...wow. I hope he knows what he's doing. Does this mean that he will no longer have a HRH title? Would he just be Prince Johan Friso, or might they take his Prince title too? My god, someone needs to buy Parliament some Happy Meals.
 
his title hasn't been decided. He won't lose his place in succession until the marriage takes place. He may stay a HRH, like his aunts did. However, that raises some issues because his wife(mabel) can take his rank, and become Princess, which some do not want to happen. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
 
Originally posted by thissal+Sep 5th, 2003 - 9:54 am--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (thissal @ Sep 5th, 2003 - 9:54 am)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Janet@Aug 23rd, 2003 - 4:33 pm
I can't help but think Beatrix would privately be spitting feathers about this.

I doubt it. It's all in the family. Many consider Queen Beatrix's father Prince Bernhard as a main player in the #1 shady group in the world -- Bilderberg group, the Council of Foreign Relations, the Rockefellars and Rothchild's, all one and the same.

Also keep in mind that Mabel has been involved with 2 shady characters from her past, and birds of a feather flock together and all that............................there's a reason the Dutch royals are the richest and most discrete of all the royals. :ninja: [/b][/quote]
I see that my followup posts in answering Julia's questions about the Bilderberg's were deleted from this thread. I wouldn't have noticed except that I was looking up a reference. I'm not surprised this topic is taboo, or is there some other method used in deciding which posts to delete? :doh:
 
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