Son of Queen Beatrix of Netherlands injured in avalanche Prince Friso and Princess Mabel (right) pictured with other members of the Dutch royal family in Lech last year. Photograph: Stiplovsek Dietmar/EPA The second son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was buried in an avalanche and seriously injured while skiing in Austria on Friday. Prince Friso, 43, was taken to the intensive care unit of an Innsbruck hospital, officials said. A Dutch government statement said he was stable though "his life remains at risk," but a ski resort spokesman said he was no longer in danger. Stefan Jochum, representing the Lech ski area, said the accident happened at an off-piste slope away from marked ski runs. The area was laden with snow after weeks of record falls, Jochum said. "A snowslide came down and the prince was buried as the only member of the group," he said. A rescue helicopter was on the scene within minutes and Friso was given emergency aid then flown to the hospital, Jochum said. He could not confirm reports that the prince had been buried for 15 minutes before he was found. Friso, the second of Beatrix's three sons, was in Lech along with other members of the royal family. He gave up any claim to the Dutch throne in order to marry commoner Mabel Wisse Smit, in 2004. The pair have two daughters, Emma and Joanna. He most recently worked as financial director at Urenco, the European uranium-enrichment consortium. After he and Wisse Smit announced their engagement in 2003, Dutch media revealed that she had been friends with a well-known figure in the country's underworld, a drug dealer who was later slain. The couple publicly acknowledged being "naive and incomplete" during the vetting process she underwent before joining the royal family. Jan Peter Balkenende, then the prime minister, said he could not recommend the marriage to parliament for approval. They married anyway but the decision led to Friso's removal from the line of succession. The couple are still part of the royal family and attend important functions. Wisse Smit was granted the title Princess Mabel and Friso can still call himself Prince of Orange-Nassau - but not Prince of the Netherlands.