Johan Friso, the bespectacled Dutch prince who avoided the limelight and gave up his position in line to the throne after getting entangled in a scandal with his bride-to-be, died yesterday, 18 months after a skiing accident that left his brain gravely injured. He was 44.

A businesswoman who started a firm by using fire hose waste to create ladies handbags and belts was one of the speakers at a major entrepreneurial event.

Michael Leahy has been appointed chief executive at Standard Life in Ireland.