Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, carried an extraordinary
burden for the final years of her husband’s life – choosing never
to tell Prince Henry that their eldest son had died.
The deeply personal decision followed the tragic death of Prince
William of Gloucester in a plane crash in 1972, at a time when the
Duke of Gloucester’s own health had deteriorated dramatically after
suffering a series of strokes.
Prince Henry, the third son of King George V and Queen Mary, had
already experienced more than his fair share of personal tragedy.
His elder brother, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne in 1936,
changing the course of royal history, while his younger brother,
Prince George, Duke of Kent, was killed in an air crash during the
Second World War.
In later life, the Duke’s health declined rapidly. In January
1965, while returning from the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill,
Prince Henry suffered a stroke that caused the car in which he and
Princess Alice were travelling to crash. The Duke was thrown from
the vehicle, while the Duchess sustained facial injuries.
The stroke marked the beginning of years of poor health. Prince
Henry experienced further strokes, eventually becoming
wheelchair-bound and losing much of his ability to speak.
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Just two years before the Duke’s death, the family was struck by
another devastating loss.
Prince William of Gloucester, aged just 30, was an accomplished
pilot and President of the British Aviation Centre. On 28 August
1972, he was competing in the Goodyear International Air Trophy at
Halfpenny Green Airfield in Staffordshire when disaster struck.
Flying a Piper Cherokee Arrow alongside fellow pilot Vyrell
Mitchell, Prince William’s aircraft crashed shortly after take-off
after striking a tree. Both men were killed.
Three local boys rushed to the wreckage in an attempt to rescue
those inside but were driven back by the intense flames.
Firefighters arrived within minutes, but the blaze was so fierce
that it took around two hours to bring under control. The victims
were later identified through dental records.
The tragedy shocked the Royal Family. Queen Elizabeth II
cancelled planned engagements connected with the Munich Olympic
Games, while the Duke of Edinburgh returned early from Germany to
attend his nephew’s funeral.
Princess Alice was then faced with an impossible decision.
Fearing that the devastating news could further endanger her
husband’s fragile health, she chose not to tell Prince Henry that
their son had died.
Messages of condolence poured in from around the world,
including one from Prime Minister Edward Heath, yet the Duchess
continued to shield her husband from the tragedy.
Writing in her memoirs, The Memoirs of Princess Alice,
Duchess of Gloucester, first published in 1981, she reflected
on the loss of her son.
She said: “I was completely stunned and have never been
quite the same since, though I have tried to persuade myself that
it was better to have known and lost him than never to have had him
at all.”
Princess Alice later revealed that she never directly told
Prince Henry about Prince William’s death, although she
acknowledged that he may have become aware of it through television
coverage.
Prince William was buried at the Royal Burial Ground at
Frogmore.
Just two years later, in 1974, Prince Henry died and was laid to
rest alongside his son, bringing to a close one of the Royal
Family’s most poignant and little-known stories.
