Princess Mabel | |||||
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Princess of Orange-Nassau | |||||
Princess Mabel in 2015
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Born |
Pijnacker, Netherlands |
11 August 1968 ||||
Spouse | Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau (m. 2004; d. 2013) |
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Issue | Countess Luana Countess Zaria |
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Father | Hendrik Cornelis Los | ||||
Mother | Florence Malde Gijsberdina Kooman |
Full name | |
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Mabel Martine |
Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau, better known as Mabel van Oranje and also as Mabel of Orange (Dutch: Prinses Mabel van Oranje-Nassau; formerly Mabel Martine Wisse Smit, born Mabel Martine Los, 11 August 1968), is the widow of Prince Friso, brother of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. She is a prominent human rights activist, widely known for her roles in co-founding War Child Netherlands, the European Council on Foreign Relations, Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, and for having served as the first Chief Executive Officer of The Elders, a grouping founded by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Kofi Annan. In 2005, the World Economic Forum recognised her as a Young Global Leader. Van Oranje is an advisor to several non-profits, including the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, the Malala Fund, Crisis Action and the Open Society Foundations.
She was born Mabel Martine Los in Pijnacker, the Netherlands. Her parents were Hendrik Cornelis "Henk" Los (27 April 1944 - 18 February 1978) and his wife Florence Malde Gijsberdina "Flos" Kooman (b. 1944) (the daughter of Anthonie Kooman (15 June 1915 - 8 November 1979) and his wife Antoinette Petronella van Woerkom). After Mabel's father died, when she was 9 years old, her mother married Peter Wisse Smit (15 October 1939 - 11 November 2000) in 1984, Mabel and her sister took their stepfather's surname. Princess Mabel has two younger sisters, Nicoline Los, later Nicoline Wisse Smit (b. 1970) and Eveline Wisse Smit (b. 1982). She grew up in Het Gooi in the central Netherlands.