The story behind the name of Prince William, who should have been called Arthur

The Prince William who has just accomplished 40 years he should have called himself Arthur. But at the last moment, his mother Diana he changed his mind and decided to go for the “more robust” name of William. The historian tells it Robert Lacey attributing the decision to the desire to give his son, future king of England, the name of another sovereign who made the history of the country: William the Conqueror.

On that occasion the Prince Charleswhich recent documents have revealed to be a far less icy and aloof father than he has been portrayed over the years, totally supported his wife so little Arthur became William, to be precise: Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, borrowing the third and fourth names from his grandfather PhilipDuke of Edinburgh and by Lord Louis Mountbatten, to whom Charles was very close.

But there is another reason so Carlo did not oppose Diana, on the contrary, he approved her decision even with enthusiasm: William it was the name of a cousin of his motherloved by the whole family and by Carlo in particular, who died at the age of 30 in a plane crash, just 10 years earlier.

It was the Prince William of Gloucesterfirst cousin of Elizabeth II and the princess Margaret and fourth in line of succession to the throne. Born in 1941, he made his first major public appearance at the wedding of then Princess Elizabeth to Philip, in 1947, as pageboy of the bride. So once he grew up he became one of the working members most active (and free) of the Royal Family: first turning the Commonwealth and then settling in Japan, to work in the British embassy.

Away from Buckingham Palace and institutional commitments, “The other” Prince William (as they call it today in London) he felt so free from the obligations of his rank to even come to think of to be able to marry a former stewardess Hungarian Jewess, divorced twice and mother of two small children. The Palace, the chronicles tell us, when she found out about it, she rushed her cousin Margaret to Tokyo to bring him to his senses.

But more than Margaret’s intervention, it was life that forced him to change his plans: in 1970, following the worsening of the health conditions of his father, Duke Henry of Gloucester, William was forced to leave Japan (and the woman he loves) to return home and take care of her possessions.

Homeland where, just two years later, he died: experienced and qualified driver, he was participating in the Goodyear International Air Trophya very popular and very popular air show when his plane exploded in flight, shortly after take-off, under the eyes of the public and his own mother who watched him from the stands. The chronicles of the time report that his body was recognized only by the teethbecause it had been found completely charred.

For Carlo, who was very close to his eldest cousin, he was the first big shock of life, therefore it could only agree with the idea of ​​giving his son the name of the person he had missed most of all in the last ten years. But one wonders: Did Diana know all this story?

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