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Director Mei Fa Tan spoke out about her experience working with the son of Prince Robert of Luxembourg and Princess Julie of Nassau, Prince Frederik, after he died last week at the age of 22.
Frederik tragically died of POLG Mitochondrial disease, a rare disorder he was diagnosed with eight years ago. His death was announced by his dad Robert on March 7 in a lengthy message online.
With tributes to the late royal pouring in, Tan spoke to Us Weekly about the time she spent working with Frederik.
“[He was] so interested in so many topics. He would love to talk about basically anything,” she told the outlet. “Mostly film and music…But his body would not allow him to do as much. So that was really painful to watch because he was trying his best.”
In Robert’s heartbreaking message about his son’s death, he opened up about Frederik’s diagnosis and explained that its symptoms aren’t easy to detect from an early age.
He wrote: “Frederik was diagnosed with POLG at the age of 14, when his symptoms were showing more clearly and when the progression of his disease had become more acute.
“Because POLG disease causes such a wide range of symptoms and affects so many different organ systems, it is very difficult to diagnose and has no treatments, much less a cure.”
POLG Mitochondrial disease is described as “a genetic disorder that robs the body’s cells of energy, in turn causing progressive multiple organ dysfunction and failure” on the POLG Foundation website.
The condition is very “uncommon” and the symptoms, which are hard to spot, include liver failure, muscle weakness, and epilepsy.
As a young person with POLG Mitochondrial, Frederik sought to raise awareness by creating an official foundation, encouraging new research and widespread fundraising efforts.
Robert’s statement went on to describe Frederik’s unwavering positivity and commitment to happily living each day without letting the disease control more of his life.
Tan met Frederick when she was commissioned to direct the foundation’s short film, The PolG Foundation Film.
“This is the battle that Frederik fought, and this is the burden that he had to carry throughout his life. He always did so with grace and with humour,” Robert wrote. “When we asked him if he wanted to create a foundation to find a cure and help others like him, he jumped at the opportunity.
“Though he always made it very clear that he did not want this dreadful disease to define him, he nonetheless immediately identified with and helped define the mission of The POLG Foundation.”
Frederik was able to star in the organization’s first production, The PolG Foundation Film, before he died, for scenes of him watching his own childhood videos.
“When you’re a kid, you’ve got all these dreams, all these aspirations, these things you want to do. The possibilities are endless,” he said in the film’s voiceover. “I’m not sure I understood all the consequences of PolG when I first got diagnosed. It’s more subtle, where slowly, the world is getting smaller and smaller.”
