Princess Mabel has issued a touching message of thanks to those who showed their support in the weeks following her husband's death.
"We thank you wholeheartedly for your warm words and expressions of support and sympathy," read the message which was posted on the Dutch royal family's official website. "Friso's dedication, loyalty and love meant so much to us. "His keen insights, sense of perspective, humour and self-assured yet unassuming presence will remain with us forever."
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe heartfelt note was signed by the members of Prince Friso's close family, including his mother Princess Beatrix, brothers King Willem-Alexander and Prince Constantijn and their respective wives, Queen Maxima and Princess Laurentien. Princess Mabel's signature stood out at the end of the message as did those of her two young daughters, Countess Luana, eight, and six-year-old Countess Zaria.
The Dutch royal family came together on 16 August for Prince Friso's funeral. The 44-year-old had previously spent 18 months in a coma following a skiing accident in February 2012.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe prince was trapped by an avalanche while skiing off-piste in the Austrian Alps and was under the snow for 15 minutes, which starved his brain of oxygen. In a break with tradition, the Dutch Prince has been buried in the churchyard of the village's Stulpkerk, rather than placed in the family crypt in Delft's Oude Kerk. The Lage Vuursche church adjoins the Drakensteyn castle estate, where Friso grew up and where his mother, Princess Beatrix, plans to live now that she has retired.
