Prince Federico of Luxembourg dies at 22 from a rare disease: “Dad, are you proud of me?”

A serious blow for the Luxembourg royal family. The Prince Federico He died at the age of 22 because of a rare disease he was affected. The young prince is the younger son of Robert of Luxembourg and Giulia di Nassau.

The grandson of Grand Duke Henri He died on February 28, but the family made the news public only now and published a moving carousel of photographs of the prince with his family: the father wanted to share those who were his last moments.

He said that that day, just when the day of rare diseases was commemorated, his son called them in his room to greet each of them, the parents, the brothers Alexander and Charlotte, the cousins ​​Charly, Louis and Donall and the uncles, and to talk to them for the last time. «After greeting each of us in a kind, wise and instructive way, in Frederik’s true style, he left us with a last family joke. Even in his last moments, his humor and boundless compassion prompted him to leave us with a last laugh … to cheer up all of us. The last question that Frederik asked me, before the other comments, was: “Dad, are you proud of me?”. For several days he could barely speak, so the clarity of these words was as surprising as the weight of the moment was. The answer was so easy and he had heard it many times …. but at that moment he needed to be reassured that he had made all his contribution in his short and beautiful existence and that he could finally go on ».

These are hard words of an intimate moment that Roberto of Luxembourg, cousin of the Grand Duke, wanted to put in the documents through the foundation created by his son, the Polg Foundation. “Federico knows he is my superhero, as it is for our whole family”, a young prince born with the “ability to inspire and give an example”; “With a special ability of positivity, joy and determination”, the father who told some episodes and anecdotes of his son’s life, who described as “the strongest person we know”, a person with great social skills, “an incredible sense of humor, an emotional intelligence and an out of the ordinary compassion, a sense of justice, equity and decency that knows no limits, made it homage. It was disciplined and organized beyond all limit ».

He was diagnosed with Polg at the age of 14, “when his symptoms were clear and his acute illness”. He suffered from “a genetic mitochondrial disease that deprives the cells of the energy body, in turn causing a progressive dysfunction and the failure of multiple organs” that his father compares to “a defective battery that never recharges completely”.

His departure serves, writes Robert of Luxembourg, to “inspire and push his family to continue his mission:” Finding therapies and a cure to prevent other patients from suffering what Federico and our family have endured “.