Sep 26, 2008, 11:00 GMT
Belgium's Princess Mathilde's father Count Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz passed away yesterday (25.09.08) aged 72.
The count - who had been seriously ill since the beginning of 2008 - was surrounded by friends and family, including his wife Anne Komorowski and his children, at the time of his death in a neurological centre in Belgian town Ottignies.
Patrick's passing was announced by Prince Philippe, Mathilde's husband.
The count and Anne - who married in 1971 - had five children together.
In March, Henri d'Udekem d'Acoz, Princess Mathilde's uncle, revealed Patrick had been admitted to hospital and was dying from an irreversible coma. He explained the count had been ill since January, and it was the progressively worsening illness which caused him to go into a coma.
Patrick's coma also caused him to miss the birth of his grandchild, when Mathilde welcomed her fourth child into the world in April - in the same hospital where her father was being treated.
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