Dutch Prince Johan Friso, who has been in a coma since a ski accident two weeks ago, was honoured at Sunday’s service at Delft’s Old Church, where the prince and his wife Mabel Wisse Smit were married in 2004. 

After the blessing, those in attendance intoned the sixth stanza of the national anthem in his honour. In a prayer, the pastor spoke of “a wall of prayer to console the Royal Family.”

On Saturday afternoon, Princess Mabel, her mother and her sister, as well as Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Princess Máxima, attended mass in the Austrian village of Lech. A prayer was said for Prince Friso during the service, which was also attended by Florian Mossbrugger - the prince's friend who was with him when they were hit by an avalanche - and his mother.

Queen Beatrix is now at Huis ten Bosch, her private residence in The Hague, and is due to return to Austria shortly.

On Friday, the Austrian doctors treating Prince Friso announced he had suffered massive brain damage and remained in a coma. They said it was not clear whether the prince would ever regain consciousness.

(cl/ae)

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