The man who gave Prince William his name

He was young and handsome.  He provided gossip, royal glamour and for a while was breathtakingly close to the English throne.  He went to Eton, studied history at university and travelled the world, spending quite a lot of time in Africa.  And he gave his name to the man who will one day be king of England.  This week marks the anniversary of the death of Prince William of Gloucester, the man after whom the Duke of Cambridge was named. 

 

Prince William was named after William of Gloucester who died on August 28th 1972

 

By now, this prince called William would be a man of 71 and a royal duke.  And who knows whether Charles and Diana would still have chosen his name for their first born had he been alive to see their son arrive in the world.  Another one of those 'what ifs' that make up history.  Prince William of Gloucester was killed in a plane crash on August 28th 1972 while participating in a competition in Wolverhampton.  He was an experienced pilot and took part in lots of amateur air events.  But on this occasion his plane banked soon after take off and he and his fellow passenger, Vyrell Mitchell, were killed.  The prince was buried at Frogmore on September 2nd 1972 by his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. At the time he was ninth in line to the throne.

 

 

Prince William of Gloucester was in line to inherit his father's dukedom at the time of his death

 

William had been fourth in line to the throne at the time of his birth in December 1941.  He was the eldest son of Henry, Duke of Gloucester who was the third son of George V and Queen Mary and who had been pushed closer to the crown by the abdication of his eldest brother, Edward VIII, in 1936.  Until then, Henry had been concentrating on an Army career with the expectation that Edward would marry and have children that would take on royal responsibilities.  However, following the accession of George VI, he took on more royal duties to support his older brother in his new role as king and that meant scaling back his own career.  Henry had been made Duke of Gloucester in 1928 and by the time of the abdication he had a duchess, Alice.  William was their first son, born in Barnet in December 1941, six years after their marriage. 

 

 



Henry, Duke of Gloucester married Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott in November 1935

 

There are several similarities between the two Williams apart from the handsome face and charming smile.  For a start, they both went to Australia at a young age.  But while baby William was bounced on a blanket by the Prince and Princess of Wales when they toured the country several months after his birth, William of Gloucester made his home there for several years when his father was appointed Governor General of the country.  And while the present William returned to a life mapped out for him as he prepares to be king, his namesake knew he would have to make a career of his own.  Along with his younger brother, Richard, he went to Eton and then Cambridge.  And after graduating, Prince William of Gloucester did what lots of English university graduate do.  He joined the Civil Service.

 

 

Alice, Duchess of Gloucester with her two sons, William and Richard, in 1959

 

Postings in Nigeria and Japan followed but William gave it all up in 1970 and returned to his family home in Bardwell, Northamptonshire.  It's not really clear what prompted it - it was known that his father, by then aged 70, was ill.  The Duke of Gloucester suffered several strokes in later life.  William began the running of his family estate and preparations to take over the dukedom and the responsibilities that went with it.  But around the same time he, too, was undergoing investigation for health problems.  He had a form of porphyria, the condition now blamed for the deterioration of George III's health throughout his later life.  He was known to have suffered skin problems in line with variegate porphyria which causes blistering as well as abdominal pain and sickness and can lead to confusion and an inability to remember an attack afterwards. 

 



 

 

Henry, Duke of Gloucester with his eldest son and heir, William.  Both encountered health problems around the same time

 

His death in the air accident of August 1972 was a huge shock.  It came just months after the marriage of little brother, Richard, and was a huge blow to his already ill father.  Henry, Duke of Gloucester died two years after his eldest son and was buried near him at Frogmore. 

 

 

Prince William of Gloucester

 

Prince William of Gloucester was never really going to be king though he hovered close to the throne through the war years before moving away from it in 1948 on the birth of Prince Charles.  But the impression he made on the heir to the throne was such that Charles made sure his future king would bear the name of a royal prince who died young.