Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau is to receive an honorary doctorate from Glasgow Caledonian University’s law faculty today at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
The Princess is receiving the honour in recognition of her work and contribution to human rights across the globe, as well as her dedicated commitment to non-profit organisations like Malala Fund, Crisis Action, Girls Not Brides and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.
In 1994, Mabel founded the European Action Council for Peace in the Balkans. She was director of this organisation until 1997 when she began working for the Open Society Foundations. While there, she was initially the director of the Brussels office until she was named International Advocacy Director, based in London. Further, in 1995, the Princess was involved in creating War Child Netherlands. She was involved in the creation of the NGO coalition Publish What You Pay and the International Criminal Court in 2002 and the Independent Commission on Turkey in 2004, as well. The Princess attended the International Human Rights Law Summer School at the University of Oxford in 2001.
By 2007, she had co-founded and was the chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations. In 2008, she attended the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century executive education programme at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. From 2008 through 2012, Mabel had the honour of being the first director of The Elders. This organisation was created by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South African president Nelson Mandela to bring together non-governmental public figures to promote peace, human rights, and justice. It was also during this time that she was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe until 2007. In 2011, Princess Mabel initiated Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriages.
Princess Mabel is the widow of Prince Friso (1968-2013) – the son of Princess Beatrix and brother to King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands; she is due to take part in the World AIDS Congress in Amsterdam later this month.
