THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Prince Johan Friso, the son of Queen Beatrix, relinquished his claim to the throne Friday to marry a human rights activist embroiled in controversy over her former relationship with a known gangster.
Johan Friso, 35, a London-based banker, was second in line for the Dutch throne after his elder brother, Crown Prince Willem Alexander. He would have moved to third place after the expected birth of Willem's child next year.
Johan Friso's decision came as Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced his government couldn't support Mabel Wisse Smit as a member of the royal family because she had given "incomplete and incorrect information," about her past, "resulting in a breach of confidence."
Wisse Smit, 35, admitted that she had misled the government when she denied having more than a passing acquaintance with Klaas Bruinsma while she was in college in 1989. Bruinsma was a drug lord who was killed in a gangland liquidation in 1991.
The story surfaced when Bruinsma's former bodyguard disclosed on Dutch television that she had regularly attended overnight parties on Bruinsma's boat.
"This is not good for the monarchy," Balkenende said, adding that the couple had already apologized to him and to Queen Beatrix for misleading them.
In a letter to the legislature, Balkenende said the government had decided not to introduce a parliamentary bill of approval required by any member of the royal house to marry, at the request of the couple.
It was a rare instance in the 190-year-old Dutch kingdom — stripping yet another layer from the royal veneer of an increasingly tarnished monarchy.
In a separate letter, the prince said he intended to go ahead with the wedding in the spring and "accept the consequences."
The story of Wisse Smit's links with Bruinsma filled Dutch newspapers and became the subject of parliamentary questions.
It was the latest embarrassment for the royal family, which suffered through a bitter public argument between the queen and a niece, Princess Margarita. It also weathered the difficult engagement of Willem Alexander to Argentine Maxima Zorreguieta whose father served in Argentina's brutal military junta. The couple married last year, but Princess Maxima's father did not attend.
Beatrix's sister Irene also relinquished her claim so that she could marry a Catholic Spaniard.
Beatrix's own marriage was met with public riots when she wed Prince Claus, a former German soldier, in 1966, at a time when the Netherlands was still feeling anger and humiliation over World War II.
Wisse Smit worked for several human rights organizations, and most recently was head of the Open Society Institute in Brussels, part of financier George Soros's humanitarian network. Soros was among several international figures to support the couple.
Johan Friso worked as an analyst for Goldman Sachs in London until the couple announced their engagement in June.