Dutch Prince Johan Friso died Monday morning after spending the last year and a half in a coma following a skiing avalanche in Austria that left him with severe brain damage.
The 44-year-old Dutch Prince, who was married to Princess Mabel – formerly Mabel Martine Wisse Smit – was relocated in early July from a London hospital to Palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague, the Netherlands,
where he suffered further complications, the BBC reported.
"
Prince Friso has died of complications related to the hypoxic brain injury, which he suffered as the result of his skiing accident in Lech, Austria on 17 February 2012," A read a statement from the Dutch Palace relaying Friso's death to the public.
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Friso was trapped under snow for 15 minutes before rescue crews were able to dig him out. He subsequently suffered a heart attack that reportedly lasted for 50 minutes.
The palace statement described Friso's state over the past year and a half as one of "minimal consciousness," during which he showed "signs of limited awareness."
Princess Mabe spent her 45th birthday on Sunday at Friso's bedside, according to various Dutch media reports.
The second of three sons, Friso was not in line to the thrown after he decided to marry Mabel Wisse Smit in 2004 and it was discovered that she had a past with notorious Dutch drug criminal, Klaas Bruinsma.
Following the union, Friso relocated to London with his wife where he worked most recently as chief finance officer at Urenco, a nuclear fuel company, having previously been employed as a banker for Goldman Sachs, the BBC reported.
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Friso's elder brother, Willem-Alexander, discussed the family tragedy shortly before becoming king on the abdication of Queen Beatrix in April, describing it as a "terrible situation" the family had lived with for more than a year, the BBC reported.
Willem-Alexander added that Friso's wife and Beatrix had been doing whatever they could "to give him a chance."
In addition to his wife, Friso is survived by his two daughters, 8-year-old Luana and 7-year-old Zaria.
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