Dutch Prince’s Ski Death Nixes Yom Kippur Fete
Fete Delayed: The Dutch royal family has postponed a party for former Queen Beatrix. Image by getty images
A farewell party for former Queen Beatrix scheduled on Yom Kippur was canceled due to the death of her son.
The Dutch Royal House postponed the Sept. 14 gala until early next year, according to a report Thursday by the NRC Handelsblad daily.
Prince Johan Friso, 44, died Aug. 12 as a result of injuries he suffered in a skiing accident in Austria. He had been in a coma for a year and a half.
The decision to hold the party in Rotterdam on Yom Kippur had disappointed some Dutch Jews when it was announced in May, as it would have prevented many representatives of Dutch Jewry from attending.
Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, a chief Dutch rabbi, told JTA he was “not angry but pained” by the agenda conflict.
“I can see why the Jewish minority was overlooked in scheduling the event,” Jacobs said. “We are a very small minority. And that is painful.”
The Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam held a special prayer ahead of Prince Willem Alexander’s succession as monarch on April 30.
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