Prince Friso of the Netherlands will be buried Friday in the municipality of Baarn, the royal house said Tuesday in the Hague.
The younger brother of King Willem-Alexander died Monday at the age of 44, one and a half years after he was buried by an avalanche in Austria and fell into a coma.
Friso’s mother, Princess Beatrix, was born at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn, and Friso went to school in the small town near Utrecht.
The Dutch royal family gathered at the Huis ten Bosch palace in the Hague, where Friso lay.
There were broadcast images of Beatrix, Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima in front of the palace. Friso’s widow, Princess Mabel, and her daughters Luana, 8, and Zaria, 7 were seen in the palace gardens.
Dutch citizens came to the palace to leave flowers, and thousands also posted messages of condolence online.
“It is a small token of compassion,” a young man said as he handed over a bouquet of lilies to a palace official.
An elderly lady said about Friso’s death: “We all had expected this, of course. But it still came suddenly.”
The prince died of complications following the severe brain damage he suffered in February 2012, when he was buried under an avalanche while skiing in Lech, the Austrian resort where the Dutch royals traditionally spend their winter holidays.
The town of Lech announced that it would honour Friso in its annual mass on the Catholic Assumption holiday on Thursday, an event that takes place on an Alpine mountain pasture. – Sapa-dpa