Prince William of Gloucester
Prince William | |
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Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott | |
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Prince William of Gloucester (William Henry Andrew Frederick; 18 December 1941 – 28 August 1972) was a member of the British royal family. The elder son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, he was a grandson of George V, nephew of Edward VIII and George VI, and first cousin of Elizabeth II. At birth he was fourth in line to the throne; he was ninth in line at the time of his death.
A
He was the most recent descendant of George III to be diagnosed with porphyria, probably hereditary, which is conjectured to be the illness that caused George III's mental breakdown.[2]
Prince William died in 1972, aged 30, in an air crash while piloting his plane in a competition.
Early life
Prince William was born at
He was baptised in the Private Chapel at
At the time of his birth, and for months afterwards, Prince Henry was away on military duties, some of which meant considerable risk. This prompted George VI to write to his sister-in-law, promising that, if anything should happen to his brother, he would become Prince William's guardian.[5]
In 1947, Prince William was a page boy for his cousin Princess Elizabeth at her wedding to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[6] The other page boy was Prince Michael of Kent. In 1953, he attended the coronation of Elizabeth II.
Prince William spent his early childhood at
Career
After returning to Britain, Prince William took a position with Lazards, a merchant bank.[1]
He was the second member of the
By 1970, the health of his father, the Duke of Gloucester, had become critical after further strokes.[1] William had no choice but to resign from the diplomatic service and return to Britain in order to take care of his father's estate and, as he put it, take on the full-time job of a royal prince.[1] On his way back, he represented the Queen at the celebrations to mark the termination of Tonga's status as a protected state. For the next two years, he managed Barnwell Manor and began to carry out public duties as a member of the royal family.[1]
Apart from taking over many engagements his father could no longer perform, William took particular interest in St John Ambulance, where he became increasingly active. He was also President of National Ski Federation Supporters' Association, the Magdalene Society (Cambridge), the East Midlands Tourist Board, and the Royal African Society. His patronages included the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, the British Schools Exploring Society and the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society.[9]
Prince William served on some occasions as Counsellor of State in the absence of his cousin, the Queen.[1]
Personal life
The prince was consistently described by friends as adventurous (almost to the point of recklessness), warm, tender and extremely generous. But of all his qualities, the one most often mentioned is that of loyalty to his friends. One account describes how William was particularly kind to friends who were either "ill, unpopular with others, or even downright embarrassing".[1] His status and circumstances had also influenced his personality and he could, at times, be "tiresomely selfish".[1]
Regarding his family, Prince William considered himself extremely lucky compared to other members of the royal family. He had a very close relationship with both his parents, especially with his mother of whom he said, "She is a human being and she must possess some faults. But so far as I am concerned she has no faults at all".[1] He was also very fond of his father, one friend describing William's love and tenderness for him as "infectious".[1] William acknowledged his father couldn't have been very happy as a young man, as a result of the strict upbringing he had received, so he was very grateful to him for the freedom he had given him throughout his life.[1]
Relationships
Former model and stewardess Zsuzsi Starkloff had a long-running relationship with William. The last time they met in person was in August 1970.[10] The relationship with Starkloff was further explored in the 2015 Channel 4 TV documentary, The Other Prince William.[11] Despite the alleged reluctance of senior members of the royal family to take William's relationship with Starkloff seriously, the standards regarding marriage in the royal family at the time were no longer as strict as they had been. Princess Margaret, while not encouraging William, did sympathize with him in this regard, telling him to "wait a bit" and to "see how everything looks" once he returned to Britain.[1] Furthermore, once back in England, Starkloff went to stay with William's family at Barnwell Manor, where his parents were kind and accommodating to her.[11] William's intentions regarding his relationship with Starkloff are unclear. In the year of his death, he gave an interview to Audrey Whiting for the Sunday Mirror, in which he declared that if he ever married, he would do so to a woman not only right for him, but right in "the eyes of other members of the Family".[1]
In the early 1970s, Prince William began a relationship with divorcee Nicole Sieff (née Moschietto) who had two sons from her marriage to Jonathan Sieff.[12]
Health
Shortly before transferring to Tokyo in August 1968, Prince William was examined by a
A member of the British royal family being reliably diagnosed with porphyria added credence to the theory—first proposed by Professor Macalpine in the late 1960s—that porphyria was the source of the ill-health of both
Death
A licensed pilot and President of the British Light Aviation Centre,
His father, Prince Henry, was in such poor health at the time of his death that his mother hesitated whether to tell him. She later admitted in her memoirs that she did not, but that he may have learned of their son's death from television coverage.[19]
Prince William was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.[20] The comprehensive school in Oundle, which he opened in 1971, was renamed Prince William School in his memory. His will was sealed in London after his death in 1972. His estate was valued at £416,001 (or £3.9 million in 2022 when adjusted for inflation).[21]
William was the heir apparent of his father's peerages, Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Ulster, and Baron Culloden. Upon his death, his younger brother Prince Richard of Gloucester became heir apparent, and succeeded to these peerages in 1974. William was the first grandchild of King George V and Queen Mary to die.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Coat_of_Arms_of_William_of_Gloucester.svg/200px-Coat_of_Arms_of_William_of_Gloucester.svg.png)
Titles and styles
- 18 December 1941 – 28 August 1972: His Royal Highness Prince William of Gloucester
Honours
- Counsellor of State, 1962–1971
- Knight of Justice of the Order of St John (KStJ), 1969[22]
- Commander-in-Chief of the St John Ambulance Brigade, 1968[9][23]
- Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), 1971[9]
Arms
For his 21st birthday, in 1962, Prince William was granted the use of the Royal Arms, differenced with a label argent of five points, the outer pair and central point bearing lions gules, the inner pair crosses gules.[24]
Ancestry
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References
- ^ ISBN 978-0584102437.
- ^ ISBN 978-0552145503.
- ^ Royal Children by Charles Kidd & Patrick Montague-Smith
- ^ The Times, 23 February 1942
- ISBN 978-1610394031.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ "60 Facts, Fact 9". Official website of the Royal Family. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
- ^ "Good Performances in Junior Cricket". Eton College Chronicle (3087). 4 June 1956. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
- ^ "Etoniana". Eton College Chronicle (3211). 10 December 1959. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
- ^ a b c Montgomery-Massingbird, Hugh (1973). Burke's Guide to the Royal Family. Burke's Peerage.
- ^ James, Isobel (22 August 2015). "The Other Prince William". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- ^ a b "The Other Prince William". Channel 4. 27 August 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ "Jonathan Sieff, racing driver, businessman and scion of the Marks & Spencer dynasty – obituary". The Telegraph. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
Later, Nicole became the last girlfriend of the Queen's cousin, Prince William of Gloucester, following his return from Tokyo.
- PMID 5323262.
- ISBN 978-0-387-78517-2.
- ISBN 9780143127871. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
- ^ a b "Light is shed on death of prince". Shropshire Star. 2 November 2015. p. 8.Report by Adam Burling, Comment and Analysis.
- ^ "Civil Aircraft Accident Report 7/73, Department of Trade and Industry" (PDF). Retrieved 28 August 2013.
- ^ "1972: Prince William killed in plane crash". On This Day. BBC News. 28 August 1972. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ^ The Memoirs of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester.[page needed]
- ^ "Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805". College of St George - Windsor Castle. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ Evans, Rob; Pegg, David (18 July 2022). "£187m of Windsor family wealth hidden in secret royal wills". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
- ^ "No. 44757". The London Gazette. 3 January 1969. p. 128.
- ^ "ST. JOHN AND THE ROYAL FAMILY" (PDF). www.sja.org.uk.
- ^ Heraldica – British Royal Cadency