Queen's cousin who Prince William is named after had a heartbreaking love story and a tragically short life
The Queen's dashing cousin Prince William of Gloucester aka William Henry Andrew Frederick had lived a tragically short life. It is Prince William of Gloucester who inspired the name of the current Duke of Cambridge, Prince William.
William Henry was killed while he was piloting his Piper Cherokee Arrow during an air race in the West Midlands. His plane crashed and burst into flames just minutes after taking off. It is believed that a young Prince Charles had a lot of admiration and respect for his uncle and chose to name his eldest son after him.
William Henry also had a very tragic love story after falling in love with an older woman who was also a foreigner. The prince could have had anything in his life except the love of his life, Hungarian-born Zsuzsi Starkloff. It is believed that while nearly 50 years have passed, Starkloff still wears the prince's ring on a chain around her neck.
She could have been married into the Royal Family but instead lives a modest life in Colorado. While speaking to the Daily Mail a few years ago, she got candid about her lover Prince William of Gloucester who died in 1972 in the air race. It was believed that the Buckingham Palace had labeled Starkloff 'the new Mrs Simpson' in reference to Edward VIII's marriage to Wallis Simpson and subsequent abdication. In 1972, William's intentions to wed Starkloff was met with shock and horror from the royals who were keen to end the affair.
Starkloff recalls how she was forced out of the prince's life. "He explained to me that it was his family’s fear that he would be likened to the Duke of Windsor. They wanted an end to the affair," she revealed. It was reported that the former Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII) was already on the throne when the Wallis Simpson scandal occurred.
Edward VIII would always put his women before his duty while William would always put his duty in front of his love interests, according to Starkloff. She shared, "William had a huge loyalty to his family — he wanted to do the right thing — and of course I supported him in that."
"He had to make up his own mind, and he did that without influence from me," she continued. She also spoke about their relationship in an old documentary and said, "It's a true fairy tale. Long ago and far away; a love story between Prince William (of Gloucester) and a Hungarian girl in Tokyo, Japan."
The two had only been briefly introduced while at a junior diplomat at the British Embassy. The next day, Starkloff had sent her chauffeur to the embassy along with a note that read, "Dear Prince Charming, I have a slipper missing. Would you like to come to a party?"
"It was amazing, we had such different backgrounds – different families, different countries, different language – but we just clicked and we never had arguments. We were just two people happy to be together," she said of their affair.
However, this was not the way that the royal family viewed the pair's relationship. Prince William had also written to his family to ask what their reaction would be should he choose to propose to her. "They were against it. It came as no shock to me. I was seven years older than William for a start, divorced, and a different religion. I knew it was doomed."
In 1969, Princess Margaret had arrived in Tokyo, Japan, in order to supposedly boost Britain's trade relationship with Japan. Starkloff believes that Margaret's real mission was to understand and gauge just how serious Prince William's relationship was. "She came to William's house and we chatted and she was very gracious. She and William also talked quite a bit privately. Afterward, all he would volunteer was that she had said I seemed very nice and interesting, and she didn't blame him for falling in love with me," Starkloff added.
After returning to the UK, Margaret had written a letter to Prince William where she advised her cousin not to make any "rash decisions". The two maintained their relationship until he died in 1972 though the last time they met had been in 1970.