Controversy
After announcing the engagement of Prince Friso with Mabel Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende wrote in a letter to parliament that Mabel Wisse Smit had given "incomplete and incorrect information" about the duration and extent of her contacts with known drug lord, Klaas Bruinsma, and that because of this, the government had decided not to seek permission for the marriage from parliament. In a letter to the Prime Minister dated 9 October, Prince Friso stated that the couple had given some incomplete information, but had not given any incorrect information nor did they lie. The couple admitted that the sailing friendship with Bruinsma was indeed closer than had been mentioned, but denied a love or sexual relationship. This was later repeated by Wisse Smit in a number of interviews.
According to Dutch law, the government had to submit the couple's marriage to parliament for its approval, a prerequisite for succession to the throne. Prince Johan Friso said he would marry Smit regardless, and as a result lost his right to become king. He had been second in the order of succession, after his older brother, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander.
In a report later issued by the Stichting Nederlandse Nieuwsmonitor (Dutch News Monitor Foundation), it was alleged that the Dutch media had contributed to blowing things out of proportion after the prime minister made 'unnuanced' comments during two news conferences. In this period Wisse Smit also received negative publicity by revelations about her affair, which started circa 1993, with married Bosnian UN Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey. Princess Mabel has lived in London, England, since the revelations about her previous life were made public.
Read more about this topic: Princess Mabel Of Orange-Nassau
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