OMG!!!! Thanks for posting these pictures .....What a handsome man.
Once I saw a picture of him and his hungarian girlfriend...... It was posted on the GREMB....

she was pretty (the girlfriend)! thanks so much luke !

octavius... those are, seriously, hollywood pictures... he was absolutely gorgeous!

Below here is an extract from the book William of Gloucester, Pioneer Prince, edited by Giles St Aubyn, 1977, of which the jacket says "...has been edited by Mr St Aubyn at the request of HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester and is based on Prince William's own letters and recollections of his relations, friends and colleagues. "

These are segments from Chapter 7 "Tokyo". I am not sure at each point just which contributor is being quoted.

" At about this time several young ladies' names were linked with his, and he was seen here and there with various foreign girls. Then, more frequently, with a Hungarian girl, Zsuzui Starkloff, somewhat older than himself. Having lived in Japan longer than he, and being an excellent conversationalist, Wiliam sought her company. Perhaps her maturity and willingness to accept his position without being overawed by it, partly explained her attraction. Her interests and William's own were complimentary and she became his regular companion at various functions in the world's largest city. Witty, intelligent, attractive, the rumours started to fly. "

" I believe that the most important aspect of William's time in Japan was his relationship with Zsuzui Starkloff. It overshadowed everything else. It resulted both in a period of great happiness for him, but also of great anguish, for it involved him in disagreement with his friends and family, "

The book refers to the article on August 27th 1972 in the News of the World - refer to the pic Luke posted just above.
Zsuzui went to England to meet the Prince's parents. She was their guest for six weeks.
Zsuzui saw him in a different light, as the Prince he was.
'"Happy as they had been together in Jajan, both came to recognise that Zsuzui was right when she said, 'there was no place for me in the family.' "

Thank you for that Nellie, what an interesting read. It strucks me as nice from Princess Alice to have the Hungarian girl as a guest for SIX weeks, when it must have been obvious, even before both women met, that she "had no place" in the family.

I think you have empathised with them very well, Octavius.
The Prince would have known the restrictions of those times but possibly felt, as many young men have done, that things would be different when family actually met his friend.
It is sad really, but must have been the the story of many in those days.

Here is Zsuzui with a very good Japanese friend of the Prince's.

I take back my calling him playboy (in the Spanish meaning).

William must have been in love with the Hungarian girl, that is why he did not want to marry, what a pity. A whole generation would have to pass until somebody married a divorcée, too late for them. What a fascinating story.

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Well, uncle David (Edward VIII) married a divorcée... we all know with what consequences.

William, who by 1970 must have been well down in the heirs to the throne list, could have taken the same route...

how sad... so he did love her...

it is very nice of the princess to have given her, Her place in the book... she could have asked for that chapter to be shortened or given less emphasis.

perhapas... they invited her to their house for six weeks... precisely so both william and her would realize that she was out of her depth and they would end up coming to the conclusion (as it seems they did) that they could not be together... very clever of the parents, if you ask me.

The Prince gave up his career to manage the Barnwell estate.
I think that, in time, he would have married a British girl who would have satisfied all the requrements of the time to become the Duchess.
However, Prince William died at age 30. It was his younger brother who succeeded to the Dukedom.

ell it seems to me that prince william got all the looks in that family!

Wonderful pic... I think William died one month later. Very Sad.
The whole thread is fantastic, thanks very much.

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What a simply fabulous thread this is.

Thank you to everyone for the lovely pictures of the Gloucester Family, most of which I have never seen before, and those of Prince William himself. What a very handsome man. Thanks also go to Nellie for the extracts from the book.

I must say I agree with Berciana that the invitation to Zsuzui to say for 6 weeks was a clever idea, as she would see Prince William as she had never seen him before. It was very difficult for a "commoner" to enter into a Royal Family in those days. What a shame though, they were obviously very happy together.

Thanks again to everyone who have made this such an enjoyable thread.