Personal and Early Life
Grover-Williams was born in Montrouge, Hauts-de-Seine on 16 January 1903 to Frederick and Hermance Grover. Frederick Grover was an English horse breeder who had settled in Montrouge. Frederick met a French girl, Hermance Dagan, and they were soon married. Their first child was Elizabeth, born in 1897. William had two other siblings - Alice and Frederic.
When William was eleven, he was sent to live with relatives in Hertfordshire, in the United Kingdom. After the war, Frederick Grover moved the family to Monte Carlo. It was there that William developed a fascination for automobiles, having been taught to drive a Rolls-Royce by his sister's boyfriend. Grover-Williams passed his driving test whilst in Monaco and was granted a licence. At the age of 15, Grover-Williams acquired a motorcycle made by the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company and it became his pride and joy. He would later go on to compete in motorcycle races in the early 1920s, although he kept it secret from his family by adopting the pseudonym, "W Williams".
In 1919, the Irish portrait painter, William Orpen became the official artist of the Paris Peace Conference. Orpen bought a Rolls-Royce car and hired Grover-Williams as his chauffeur. At the time, Orpen had a mistress named Yvonne Aupicq. Aupicq and Grover-Williams became good friends and after the collapse of Aupicq's relationship with Orpen, the pair were married in 1929.
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