That's a very nice message June. Thank you.

I have more to add here but not tonight.
I am now settling into evening TV watching.

Do you think that the problem was not her condition of commoner... but her status as divorcée...? Prince Richard married a commoner, a lawyer's daughter... and a foreign-born woman too.

Thanks for the pic Nellie, fantastic...!

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Lucky you, you don't have to see the Eurovision Contest everywhere in TV

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Oh I do understand how TV can be dominated by one event.
The Eurovision Song Contest is being replayed here this afternoon, but not on all channels thank goodness.

About William, Zsuzui and marriage, I don't think young royals were expected to marry royals by that time.
Being a commoner was not the obstacle.
Zsuzui understood what the obstacles were - older, divorced, different religion.

More from William of Gloucester, Pioneer Prince, quoting Zsuzui, on marriage, in the article in News of the World -
" was not possible because of the Prince's decision that duty to the Royal Family came before his personal feelings and because of the advice of his parents. When we were in Tokyo, William asked me what I would say if he asked me to marry him. I told him to go ahead and ask. Anyway, he wrote to his parents with photographs of me and sounded out their reaction. They were against it. Of course, it came as no shock. I was older than William for a start, twice divorced and had a different religion. I knew it was doomed. At first, our romance was kept secret but towards the end we didn't care who knew. In fact, we made no effort to hide it when Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon came to Tokyo for British Week in 1969. As a matter of fact, the Princess was against our romance and marriage, but told William that she understood because she thought I was attractive and intelligent. "

Prince William's mother published her memoirs in 1983 - The Memoirs of Princess Alice Duchess of Gloucester
William returned home in 1970. After Richard had married, the Duchess says -
" I think William would have married quite soon himself had he lived. I do not think he had really wanted to marry before, and consequently had found it safer to have girl friends who tended to be older than himself. and already married. When he came back he was resigned to leading a more settled life, doing whatever the Queen expected of him. I am sure he would have married a suitable girl in due course. He was always such a restless, active person that I have often wondered if he had some premonition that his life was destined to be short.
" I was at Barnwell the day his plane crashed. He was taking part in an air race up north. One of the other competitors flew straight over with the news as soon as it happened. He was in a terrible state, having been a staunch friend of my son. I never knew whether to tell Prince Henry or not, but I think he understood from watching the television. I was completely stunned and have never been quite the same since, though I have tried to persuade myself that it was better to have known and lost him than never to have had him at all. "

Some more pics, with sources.

The Gloucester boys were first cousins to Queen Elizabeth II, so Charles and Anne are their cousins once removed.




To show the generations more clearly here is the christening group for Prince Richard of Gloucester.

The King and Prince Henry are brothers, standing in the centre at the back.
The King's daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret are quite older than their first cousins, the baby Richard and toddler William of Gloucester.

To complete the scenes -

Great thread, Nellie!
A request...do you think we can have a good thread focused on the Tecks? Not our beloved May, but her family...parents, brothers, nephews and nieces. I think the Tecks were one very interesting branch of european royalty...

Sabbatical - I'm not sure I have all that much about the Tecks other than their star!!

I will start some research but will hope that someone else can kick off a Teck thread.

Great...!
The Tecks is a good idea...

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How interesting the Zsuzui's memoires... When did she write them...?
What do we know of her after William's death...? Sorry, is all questions but, I am enjoying the reading very much, indeed.

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Oh how silly of me, I had competely forgotten that Birgitta was not Royal when she and Prince Richard married. Of course that would not then have been the case, but more a combination of those things already mentioned.

Thanks Nellie for the further picture of William holding an apple - what a sad lilttle boy he looked.