THE HAGUE, 15/02/01 - Prince Johan Friso has put an end to speculation about his sexual inclinations via the government information service RVD. He has suddenly come into the picture because Crown Prince Willem-Alexander may get engaged to be married in the near future.

Johan Friso is the reserve successor to the throne. For the United Assembly of the States-General, which would have to approve the marriage of the Prince of Orange with Maxima Zorreguieta, this marriage would be a tough nut to crack. Maxima's father is politically controversial and Willem-Alexander himself has said he will chose the woman of his heart. If he does this without approval, he will no longer be eligible to accede to the throne.

Then, so the reasoning goes, his brother Constantijn would be a suitable candidate with his universally acceptable wife. But Constantijn would have to pass over the second son of Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus. The whole world however knows that Friso does not like the sound of the throne. He leads a reclusive life in London and the trappings of the House of Orange have never attracted him.

In the person of Johan Friso Bernhard Christiaan David, the Netherlands would have a pretty well unknown king. He was born in Utrecht on 25 September 1968 and spent his earliest years in Baarn. After the inauguration of Beatrix as queen in 1980, the family moved to The Hague.

After secondary school, Johan Friso pursued a technical education at the College of Engineering in Berkeley, California. In 1988, he went to live in Delft where he studied aviation technical business administration, doing business economics at Rotterdam's Erasmus University at the same time.

In October 1995, the prince took a job at management consultants McKinsey and moved to Amsterdam. But in January 1996, he started studying again, this time in France. In 1998, Johan Friso became an associate at the prestigious Goldman Sachs bank's investment banking department in London. This investment bank is well known for its enormous salaries, but also for the exceptionally high demands placed on its staff.

The somewhat asthmatic prince is very good at golf. His looks for some time gave him a 'Prince Charming image', but he was never in the news with women. The homosexual world thought he was one of them, but when that was seriously taken up by some weeklies, the RVD, on behalf of the prince, made short shrift of that. "Johan Friso is heterosexual," said the RVD.

Prince Johan Friso has always stayed pretty much out of the limelight, though he has sometimes opened a golf course and in 1992, accompanied the whole family on an official visit to the Antilles. Other than that, he only allows himself to be seen on the Queen's Birthday and Prince's Day (Budget Day).