Death
A licensed pilot, Prince William owned several aircraft and competed in amateur air show races. In August 1972 he was competing in the Goodyear International Air Trophy at Halfpenny Green, near Wolverhampton, with Vyrell Mitchell -- a pilot with whom the prince had often raced -- listed as a passenger. Shortly after their low-level take-off, the Piper Cherokee banked abruptly to port, with an extreme increase in the rate of turn and corresponding loss of height; the wing hit a tree and sheared off and the out-of-control plane inverted and crashed into an earthen bank, bursting into flames. Prince William and Mitchell were killed. Prince William was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore. The comprehensive school in Oundle, which he opened in 1971, was renamed Prince William School in his memory.
Prince William was the heir-apparent of his father's peerages, Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Ulster, and Baron Culloden. Upon his death, his younger brother Prince Richard of Gloucester became heir-apparent and succeeded to these peerages in 1974. Prince William was the first grandchild of George V and Queen Mary to die.
He shared a close relationship with Charles, Prince of Wales, his 7-years younger first cousin once removed. The Prince of Wales named his 1982-born first son, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, after him.
Read more about this topic: Prince William Of Gloucester
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