The prince – once second in line to the throne – had been in a coma since February 2012 following fall in Lech, Austrla

Dutch prince Johan Friso, who fell into a coma following a skiing accident in February 2012, has died, the government said on Monday.

"Prince Friso died from complications that arose as a consequence of the brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation following his skiing accident," it said in a statement.

The prince, 44, was skiing off-piste in Lech, Austria, when he was buried by an avalanche. Rescuers pulled him unconscious from the snow 20 minutes later. He was resuscitated at the scene and flown to hospital, but remained in a coma for months.

Before the accident, Friso, the second of the former Queen Beatrix's three sons, had sometimes been known as "Prince Brilliant". He studied at UC Berkeley, the Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam, graduating from the Dutch universities cum laude, with degrees in engineering and economics. He later earned an MBA at France's prestigious Insead school of business.

The central event of his life as a royal came when he gave up his claim to the throne in order to marry Mabel Wisse Smit in a wedding not sanctioned by the government.

The pair had announced their relationship in 2002 and got engaged in 2003. Wisse Smit worked for George Soros's Open Society Institute and was regarded by the queen as an ideal daughter-in-law. But during her vetting to join the royal house, the pair decided not to disclose the full extent of a friendship she had at college.

The friend in question was drug baron Klaas Bruinsma, who became one of the country's most infamous crime lords and who later died in a gangland killing.

Wisse Smit denies ever having had any romantic involvement with Bruinsma and says she had not realised who he was at the time. But as details about their relationship emerged in the Dutch press, then prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende said it was clear the pair had held back information, and he wouldnot propose the law needed for parliament to approve Wisse Smit's entry to the royal house.

The couple acknowledged being "naive and incomplete" in what they told Balkenende.

Friso had spent most of his life as second in line to the throne behind Willem-Alexander, but never appeared enthusiastic. As a child he was filmed saying, "You can hit Alex, but not so hard he gets killed, because then I'd have to be king."

After graduating from college, he worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co in Amsterdam. He went on to work for Goldman Sachs in London, eventually becoming vice-president.

After his marriage, Friso served on various supervisory boards, worked for charitable organisations and helped found a low-cost airline. In 2011, he left a position as managing director at investment firm Wolfensohn & Company to became the chief financial officer of Urenco, the European uranium enrichment consortium.

One of Friso's most sympathetic moments in the public eye came shortly after the death of his father, Prince Claus, when it fell to Friso to escort his mother at the funeral. He supported her in a long, stately walk to her seat as she leaned heavily on his arm, deep in grief.

Friso is survived by Princess Mabel, and two daughters, Luana and Zaria.