The devastating love story of Prince William of Gloucester & Hungarian model Zsuzsi Starkloff

Libby-Jane Charleston
7 min readSep 4, 2020
Prince William of Gloucester with girlfriend Zsuzsi Starkloff

Prince William of Gloucester was the Queen’s first cousin and, at the time of her wedding in 1947 where was a page boy, he was fourth in line for the throne.

But as a young man, William decided not to follow strict royal protocol and join the army. Instead, he craved adventure and a normal life away from the prying eyes of the royal family.

Prince William of Gloucester (1941–1972) relaxes on his 21st birthday at his home at York House, 18th December 1962. (Photo by Dennis Oulds/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images (Getty)

In 1968, William moved to Japan where he worked in the diplomatic services and that’s where he fell madly in love with beautiful Hungarian model Zsuzsi Starkloff.

The story of William and Zsuzsi began as a fairy tale — but sadly, this fairy tale has a tragic ending.

In 2015 Zsuzsi gave a rare interview to Britain’s Channel 4 for a documentary, opening up about their love story and of the grief she still feels for the man she fell in love with nearly half a century ago.

Love begins in Tokyo

Zsuzsi still wears a chain around her neck with a “W” on a cygnet ring, given to her by the man she refers to as the love of her life, Prince William of…

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Libby-Jane Charleston
Libby-Jane Charleston

Written by Libby-Jane Charleston

Journalist, ex-ABC TV, HuffPost AU Assoc Editor, ABC TV, author, poet, mother of 3 boys, cancer Survivor, history lover

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