Prince William of Gloucester (1941-1972)

[CasiraghiTrio]

Originally Posted by iowabelle

Okay, so I just read the new Majesty with the article on Prince William of Gloucester. And it says something that I had never heard, that the Duke of Gloucester (his father) had porphyria. Is this news to everyone else?

I had read it once before only, on Wikipedia. It says also on Wikipedia that Prince William also had porphyria. It could be true. It's a genetic disease, though rare, but obviously a genetic trait in this family (i.e. George III).
It seems the porphyria gene was passed through the line but, as tends to happen, afflicted only one child of Queen Victoria and then only the Gloucester line. It's a very odd disease, very mysterious.

[iowabelle]

I have also read that Princess Margaret had porphyria, but it's really hard to know since the royals don't usually comment about their health issues. That might have accounted for Margaret's erratic behavior, but I always ascribed her behavior to alcohol and possible depression.

[cmkrcwi]

Hi, this is my first post here but I've been lurking for a few days now.

I read a short biography of Prince William of Gloucester about 25 years ago. I do remember when he was killed in that plane crash. I remember reading that he worked in Japan for a time too He was great friends with Princess Chichibu who was the widow of the then-Emperor's younger brother.

Regarding porphyria, could it be that Princess Margaret's depression was exacerbated by her porphyria?