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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 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 said 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 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 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 apologized to him and to Queen Beatrix for misleading them.
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 newspapers and was 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.