Two forgotten tragedies that changed the royals
How the family’s destiny was shaped with two plane crashes, in August
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The tragic tale of the other Prince William and Prince George
This week, The Royal List looks back at two aviation tragedies, that happened 30 years apart, which changed the destinies of the Gloucesters and the Kents.
Much-loved cousins to the late Queen and King Charles, Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, celebrates his 80th birthday on Monday, and has been Duke since 1974, after originally planning to be an architect. Edward, the 88-year-old Duke of Kent, has dutifully supported the monarchy since he retired from the British Army in 1976, inheriting his dukedom at the age of six, when his father, Prince George, was killed during WWII.
Prince William of Gloucester: Before our own Prince of Wales there was another dashing pilot in the family, sharing his name and good looks with today’s William. However, tragedy struck on August 28, 1972.
The prince died in the light aircraft he was piloting when it crashed during an amateur race at an air show near Wolverhampton. More than 30,000 spectators saw him and his co-pilot, Vyrell Mitchell, killed instantly when the plane banked sharply soon after take off, hit a tree and plunged to the ground, bursting into flames. William was only 30 years old.
Born Prince William Henry Andrew Frederick on 18 December 1941 to Prince Henry and Prince Alice, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, at the time of his birth he was fourth in line to the throne. In 1947, William was pageboy at his cousin, Princess Elizabeth’s wedding. The Eton and Cambridge-educated prince led a life full of adventure, an expert pilot, skier and balloonist.
After joining the diplomatic service, William was based in Tokyo, falling in love with divorced mum-of-two, Hungarian model, Zsuzi Starkloff. The affair fizzled out when he returned to Britain in 1970, to take over his family’s affairs, due to his father’s failing health. However, the heir was killed before he could fufil his role and his mother later revealed she never told her husband the fate of their son, as he was too ill. On Prince Henry’s death, instead, William’s younger brother, Richard, who had only just celebrated his 28th birthday two days before his brother’s tragic death, inherited the dukedom, in 1974. William is buried at Frogmore, Windsor, alongside his mother and father.
Prince George, Duke of Kent: On August 25, 1942, the popular and handsome younger brother of George VI - was also killed in an air crash when his RAF plane came down in Caithness, en-route to Iceland to visit troops. A total of 14 people died, with one survivor, who later said he tried to rescue the royal passenger but it was obvious he was already dead.
While some mystery has always surrounded what happened, pilot error was officially blamed. According to one biographer, Christopher Wilson, there was an extra person on the plane – a woman – and the details were covered up. Whatever the cause, ‘Gorgeous George’ as he was known in his bachelor days was only 39, and the first royal to be killed in active service for more than 450 years. War-torn Britain, and the Royal Family, were left reeling. As was Australia, where George had been announced as the next Governor-General.
At the time, he was happily-married to a glamorous European princess, Marina. The couple had wed in 1934, and he was the last British prince to marry a princess. George was also a doting dad to three young children, Prince Edward, the current Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael of Kent, who was only seven weeks old when he lost his dad.
Born Prince George Edward Alexander on December 20, 1902, at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate, to the-then Prince and Princess of Wales (later George V and Queen Mary) as their fifth child and fourth son, George was academically the most intelligent. However, he was also a playboy and throughout the 1920s and early 30s rumours of bisexual affairs and drugs followed him. Falling in love and marrying his second-cousin, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, was a stabilising influence. They were the golden couple of high society. Sadly, George was destined to shine brightly for far too short a time.
Camilla races back
She’s been relaxing in Balmoral, but Camilla raced to York yesterday, to open the racecourse’s new complex. As patron of York Racecourse, she officially launched its new Bustardthorpe Development and presented the trophy to the winner of the Ebor Handicap. We were also interested to see she’s allowed cameras to follow her over the last year, for a documentary about domestic violence.
Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors, will be shown on ITV and was announced during The Edinburgh Festival. “ITV is proud to be making this documentary with Her Majesty the Queen about this hugely important subject,” said Director of Factual Entertainment, Sue Murphy. We hope the film will raise awareness and inspire change in our society.” It will air later this year.
Recollections may vary
One of our favourite stories this week was the “did she, didn’t she” debate whether the Queen really described President Trump as rude. According to Craig Brown’s new book, she did, but ask the ex-president and he says it’s rubbish.
Kerry wrote an opinion piece about it for this week’s The Sunday Telegraph. According to upcoming book, Voyage Around the Queen, “A few weeks after Trump’s visit … she confided in one lunch guest that she found him ‘very rude’: she particularly disliked the way he couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder, as though in search of others more interesting,” Brown writes. “For his part, Donald Trump was confident he had been her favourite guest ever.”
“I heard I was her favourite president,” he told the Daily Mail this week. “It was totally false. I have no idea who the writer is, but it was really just the opposite. I had a great relationship with the Queen. She liked me and I liked her. She said it to friends of mine that, ‘President Trump was my favourite president’,” he said.
Whatever the truth, we’ve got the book on pre-order. The satirist’s previous biography of Princess Margaret, Ma’am Darling, was hilarious, so it should be a fun read.
Meet the hottest King’s Guard, ever
Another cracking story this week is that of the King’s Guard who served at the late Queen’s funeral, who has just been crowned Mr England. Manuel Alcantara Turner, 22, beat the finalists in Leicester on Tuesday to go forward to the Mr World final in Vietnam in November.
Manuel, who is in the Coldstream Guards, is the first soldier to win. He said, “All I want to do is lay my life down for England, so I think that’s pretty deserving for Mr England. It’s an absolute honour to win this. I will represent my country well and hopefully make everyone proud.”
Based in Windsor and originally from Newcastle, he joined up at 16 and said the army turned him from a “boy into a man.” Good luck!
Remembering Diana in London
August 31 marks 27 years since the Princess of Wales tragically died in Paris. If you’d like to remember Diana, this week’s The British Travel List is all about the top Diana sites to see in London. Subscribe for free, so you don’t miss it on Tuesday.
Finally… like our stories? Look out for our podcast!
We thrilled to announce that The Royal List will be launching an exciting podcast series this autumn! The Secrets of The Royal Family will be full of forensically-researched stories from across the generations and is a must for royal-fans. We hope you’ll love it as much as we’re loving producing our first series. You’ll be able to hear it on this platform as well as other services - watch this space!