Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau

Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau, Mrs. Van Amsberg (legal name Mabel Martine Wisse Smit since 1984, born Mabel Martine Los August 11 1968, Pijnacker, Netherlands) is the wife of Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, second son of Queen Beatrix and the late Prince Claus of the Netherlands.

Early life

She was born Mabel Martine Los to Henk Los and Flos Kooman. Her father died when she was 9-years-old; when her mother married Peter Wisse Smit in 1984, Mabel took her stepfather's surname. Princess Mabel has two younger sisters, Nicoline and Eveline. She grew up in "Het Gooi" in central Netherlands.

She studied Economics and Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, graduating summa cum laude in 1993. During her study she also finished internships at the United Nations, Shell, ABN AMRO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She speaks fluent Dutch, English, Spanish and French and also learned Slavic languages during her work in the Balkan.

During her university years she showed special interest in human rights situations around the world, and later specialised in Balkan diplomacy and international relations. In 1995 she was present at the peace conference in Dayton, Ohio and she played an active role in the agreements that made an end to the civil war in the former Yugoslavia.

Work

Wisse Smit was co-founder of the "European Action Council for Peace in the Balkans" in 1994, which was a non-governmental organisation that strived for peace, democracy and stabilty in the Balkan, and had Margaret Thatcher, Simon Wiesenthal and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing among its members.

In 1995 she was one of the co-founders of War Child Netherlands, she was on the Trustee Board until 1999. In 1997, she was appointed director of EU affairs of the "Open Society Institute" in Brussels, one of the foundations of Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros. cite web|url=http://www.nos.nl/nieuws/artikelen/2004/4/23/mabel_portret.html|title=Mabel Wisse Smit, briljant maar omstreden|language=Dutch|publisher=Nederlandse Omroep Stichting|date=2004-04-23|accessdate=2007-08-31] From 2002 to 2008, Princess Mabel has worked in the London branch of the Open Society Institute where she is the "International Advocacy Director", she "helps to coordinate all international OSI advocacy activities aimed at international policy change." [ [http://www.osf-london.org/Mabel.html Osf ] ]

The World Economic Forum in Switserland counted her to one of the hundred "Global Leaders for Tomorrow". She is a member of the worldwide Forum of Young Global Leaders, a thinktank and lobbygroup that aims to tackle global issues.

She is one of the founding members of the European thinktank European Council on Foreign Relations

As of July 1, 2008 she is the first Chief Executive Officer of the Global Elders, a group of eminent individuals convened by Nelson Mandela to use their wisdom, independent leadership and experience to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems. [ [http://theelders-news.blogspot.com/2008/04/elders-announce-their-ceo.html Elders Announce the Group's first Chief Executive Officer] ] . She oversees the day-to-day operations for the Elders.

Marriage and children

Mabel Wisse Smit and Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau married in Delft on April 24 2004. As a result of the marriage, Prince Friso lost his membership in the Netherlands' Royal House, therefore, neither Prince Friso, Princess Mabel nor their children are members of the Royal House or the Dutch line of succession. Prince Friso and Princess Mabel have been living in London since their marriage.

Issue

The couple have two daughters. The elder, Emma Luana Ninette Sophie was born in London on March 26 2005. [ [http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/content.jsp?objectid=2277 Press release after the birth of Luana] ] She is called Luana, a Teutonic name meaning 'graceful warrior' (also 'gracious warrior' or 'female warrior'). The only information the couple released to the press after the birth of their daughter were three official photographs. Luana was christened by Huub Oosterhuis on December 18 2005, in The Hague. [ [http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/content.jsp?objectid=11236 Press release after christening of Luana] ]

Their second child, a girl named Zaria (full name Joanna Zaria Nicoline Milou), was born in London on 18 June, 2006. [ [http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/content.jsp?objectid=16136 Press release after birth of Zaria] ]

tyle, titles and names

Since her marriage, Mabel Wisse Smit has held the courtesy titles of Princess of Orange-Nassau, Mrs. Van Amsberg. She was not legally created a princess, but received courtesy titles due to her marriage, since it is customary for wives of members of the royal family to take the titles of their husbands. It was decided that their children each would receive the titles of "Count" or "Countess of Orange-Nassau" and "Jonkheer" or "Jonkvrouw van Amsberg".

Controversy

After announcing their marriage Prime-Minister Jan Peter Balkenende wrote in a letter to parliament that she had given "incomplete and incorrect information" about the duration and extent of her contacts with drug kingpin Klaas Bruinsma, [cite web|url=http://zoek.volkskrant.nl/artikel?text=Prinselijk%20paar%20loog%20over%20relatie%20mabel |title=Prinselijk paar loog over relatie Mabel|publisher=PCM Uitgevers|work=de Volkskrant|language=Dutch|accessdate=2007-08-31|date=2003-10-11] and that because of this, the government had decided not to seek permission for the marriage from parliament. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3181514.stm BBC reports about "Mabelgate"] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3655645.stm BBC reports about the wedding] ] In a letter to the Prime Minister dated October 9 [ [http://www.regering.nl/dsc?c=getobject&s=obj&objectid=49283 Letter by Friso to prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, 9 oktober 2003] ] , Prince Friso stated that the couple had given some incomplete information, but had not given any incorrect information or did they lie. The couple admitted that the sailing friendship with Bruinsma was indeed closer than mentioned, it was however never a love or sexual relationship. This was later confirmed by Wisse Smit in a number of interviews. In a report later issued by the Dutch News Monitor Foundation [ [http://www.nieuwsmonitor.net/pers_mws.html Press statement Stichting Nederlandse Nieuwsmonitor about Mabel Wisse Smit 'Tegen onwaarheid is geen kruid gewassen'] ] , it was found that the Dutch media had largely contributed to blowing things out of proportions, especially after the prime minister had made 'unnuanced' comments during two news conferences. In this period she also received some negative publicity by revelations about her affair, which started around 1993, with the married Bosnian UN Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey.

References

External links

* [http://www.theelders.org/ The Elders' Official Website]