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

Tina · #1 08-18-2003, 03:04 PM

Johan Friso

Janet · #2 08-23-2003, 08:33 PM

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.

thissal · #3 09-05-2003, 01:54 PM

Quote:

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.

hrhcp · #4 10-10-2003, 10:17 AM

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."

Robbert · #5 10-10-2003, 10:58 AM

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

hrhcp · #6 10-10-2003, 12:20 PM

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.

hrhcp · #7 10-10-2003, 12:29 PM

Hardly the act of a reserve king ....
http://members3.boardhost.com/Benelu...msg/90604.html

Fireweaver · #8 10-10-2003, 04:14 PM

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.

lasu · #9 10-10-2003, 05:14 PM

From BBC Online
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3181514.stm

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

lasu · #10 10-10-2003, 05:22 PM

BBC Online also has a video clip.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39437000...8_sackur_vi.ram

If that address doesn't work, go to the article and look in the top right corner.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3181514.stm

hrhcp · #11 10-10-2003, 05:58 PM

Quote:

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 ...

Quote:

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?

hrhcp · #12 10-10-2003, 06:20 PM

Quote:

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?

lasu · #13 10-10-2003, 07:07 PM

From cnn.com

Prince gives up throne for love

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.

Binny · #14 10-10-2003, 09:51 PM

Hi!

When are they due to marry? Have they set a wedding date?

Dennism · #15 10-10-2003, 10:45 PM

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.

Binny · #16 10-10-2003, 11:42 PM

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..

sara1981 · #17 10-11-2003, 01:23 AM

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

lori · #18 10-11-2003, 01:48 AM

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.

hrhcp · #19 10-11-2003, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Alexandria  Posted: Oct 11th, 2003 - 12:19 am

... what a wonder her mother was, etc.

Her mother ?

Elise,LadyofLancaster · #20 10-12-2003, 09:06 PM

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