Thanks Sabbatical.

Prince William of Gloucester (18 Dec 1941 - 28 Aug 1972) died in a flying accident at age 30.



William Henry Andrew Frederick was born on 18 December 1941 at a Nursing Home run by Lady Carnarvon at Hadley Common, Herfordshire, as a Caesarean operation was needed.
Christened in the Private Chapel at Windsor on 22 February 1942.
Godparents were Queen Mary, Kimg George VI, Lord William Scott, Viscount Gort VC, Princess Helena Victoria, and Lady Margaret Hawkins.
Also present were King Haakon of Norway, King George of Greece, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, the Duke and Duchess of Kent with Prince Edward and Princess Alexandra of Kent, and the Prime Minister and Mrs Churchill.

These pics are from the book William of Gloucester: Pioneer Prince, Giles St Aubyn, 1977.

Quoting: " This book 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. "

Some history of Prince William of Gloucester from the book William of Gloucester: Pioneer Prince, Giles St Aubyn, 1977

1944: in December the Gloucesters, with young William and Richard (the current Duke) went to Australia where the Duke became Governor General.
1944: returned to their UK home at Barnwell.
1954: Eton College.
1960: William went to Cambridge University, with rooms in Magdalene College.
1963: three-month African safari with seven friends, and they sold a film of it to the BBC: September - Stanford University, course in Economics, Business and Political Science.
1964: extensive tour of Mexico, US and Canada, then returning to England via Japan, Thailand and Australia.
1965; first employed at Lazards in the City of London to obtain some knowledge of finance; posted as Third Secretary on the staff of the British High Commission in Lagos.
1966: a brief holiday in Ethiopia; travelled much in West Africa; had flying licence by now;
1967: bought a Piper Twin Comanche plane; wriing to a friend the Prince said about the shortage of girls "though it is probably just as well, because I can already feel the urge to get engaged slowly creeping up on me. Living a solo diplomatic life, one begins to appreciate the advantages of marriage, without worrying too much about the snags. But meanwhile I struggle on with Tarqua (his dog), George my parrot, and Daphne, my python, for companions."
1968: posted to Tokyo as Commercial Attaché, and he flew there in his plane in sixteen days.
The Prince was seen often with a Hungarian girl, Zsuzui Starkloff, who became his regular companion at various functions. "The rumours started to fly."
1969 (I think): appointed to the Embassy in Tokyo as Second Secretary (Commercial); Princess Margaret opened British Week in Tokyo.
William returned to England and Zsuzui later joined him to meet his parents, but it was clear that they were against a marriage.
[She has written - I was older than William for a start, twice divorced and had a different religion.]
The Duke was not well and William devoted himself to reorganising Barnwell, and he became involved in light aricraft racing.
William's love of travel and adventure continued in Africa.
1970: the Prince took a competition licence and entered rallies, and entered the King's Cup Air Race in the UK.
1972: Prince Richard's wedding was in July; in August Prince William entered the Goodyear International Trophy to be flown from Halfpenny Green Airfield in Staffordshire, where the accident occurred.

my god... that portrait where he is looking directly at the camera is absolutely breathtaking! I cannot believe how handsome he was!

so it was the prince I was thinking of... and died in a plane crash.

would it be too much to ask... since she has been mentioned and I'm terribly curious to ask for a picture of his girlfriend?

Thank you Nellie for your superb coverage of William's life and all those pictures.

Some more childhoood pictures from British Pathé.

Barnwell Castle 1943.





Just after arriving in Sydney after Prince Henry became Governor General (1945).




Riding a bike in 1947.

to be of the British real family, very handsome era

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Gorgeous Nellie...! thanks for all the pics and text, I appreciated very much indeed

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Thank you for those comments.
When Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne, Prince William of Gloucester was fifth in line to the throne.

Was he dating or engaged to someone when he died...?
Sorry, I mean instead of Zsuzui Starkloff.

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I hope Octavius understands when I respond to some things, because I have the book about the Prince and can try to search it for answers.

Prince William was never engaged and I think might have been unattached when he died, or not in any serious relationship.

Quoting from one writer who interviewed him -

"Prince William was a very eligible bachelor: Royal, handsome and young. I asked why he had never married. He frankly admitted to me that he had had a number of short lived 'affairs' but insisted that he had never at any point been on the brink of marriage."

My feeling is that the Prince was fully conscious of the restrictions placed on young royals in those days and had no intention of going against the duty expected of him.
That is just how things were then.

In other words, he was fully conscious that he was a play-boy, and unfortunately, his life was too short to change that.

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Oh...Before the fateful accident means JUST before...? The same day...?

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