The Tragic Love Story of Prince William and Hungarian Model Zsuzsi Starkloff (8 photos)

The history of the British royal family is filled with romance, but the love story between Prince William of Gloucester and Hungarian model Zsuzsi Starkloff holds a special place. Their passionate affair—which began like a fairy tale—sent shockwaves through Buckingham Palace. It ended in tragedy, leaving hearts broken for a couple who so desperately wished for a happy ending.





Fourth in Line to the Throne

Prince William of Gloucester was born on December 18, 1941. He was the son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott. A grandson of King George V, William was a first cousin to the future Queen Elizabeth II. Though he was in the line of succession to the British throne, he sat fourth—making his chances of inheriting the crown relatively slim.



William, however, had little interest in royal titles or the throne. From a young age, he craved adventure, freedom, and a life far removed from rigid royal protocol. Intelligent, charismatic, and strikingly handsome, the press dubbed him the "James Bond of the monarchy."

Educated at Eton and Cambridge, the prince served in the military before moving to the United States, becoming the first member of the royal family to be educated at an American university. Driven by a sense of wanderlust, his journey eventually led him to Tokyo in 1968. In Japan, this dashing grandson of a king took on a modest role in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It was there that fate brought him face to face with Zsuzsi Starkloff.

Flight Attendant, Model, and Single Mother

Zsuzsi Starkloff was born Zsuzsanna Lehel in Budapest in 1936 to a Jewish family. Stunningly elegant, she was perpetually unlucky in love. In 1956, during the Hungarian Revolution, she fled to Austria and later settled in the United States with her first husband, Tibor Szerfőző. Though the couple had a daughter together, the marriage eventually collapsed.





Zsuzsi Starkloff

Zsuzsi later worked as a flight attendant and married a pilot, Malcolm Edward Starkloff. However, that marriage also ended in divorce. She left the airline industry to focus on raising her daughter, turning to modeling to make ends meet.

Fortune soon smiled on Zsuzsi when she became the face of Revlon in Japan. Moving in celebrity circles that included Sean Connery, she led a glamorous, vibrant life. Her beauty, intellect, and charm made her a standout figure—yet no one could have anticipated that she would steal the heart of a British prince.

A Chance Encounter That Changed Everything

The pair met in 1968 at a masquerade ball in Tokyo. Zsuzsi had convinced an acquaintance to invite William to the event. Taking the initiative, she slipped the prince a note signed "Cinderella," complete with a playful reference to a lost slipper. That lighthearted spark ignited a romance that would forever alter both their lives.



Enchanted by her boldness, William approached her at the ball and asked her to dance.

"I was dressed as an Indian princess, and he was dressed like the Lone Ranger in a black mask. He said, 'May I borrow Cinderella for a dance?'"

That is how Zsuzsi recalled their first meeting years later in a 2015 documentary interview for Channel 4.

Love in an Oceanfront Cottage

It was love at first sight. After the ball, the two were inseparable. They rented a secluded house on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, hidden away from prying eyes.



William and Zsuzsi in love

Zsuzsi later described William—who was five years her junior and lacked serious relationship experience—as wise beyond his years and utterly unspoiled. He read poetry to her, brought her breakfast in bed, and together they spent hours dreaming of a happy future. They went swimming, scuba diving, and boating, believing their happiness was assured. Sadly, fate had other plans.

Members of the royal family rarely belong entirely to themselves. Despite their best efforts to keep the romance secret, news of the prince's affair with the foreign divorcée reached Buckingham Palace. For the royal family, it was an absolute nightmare. With the scandal of Edward VIII’s abdication for Wallis Simpson still fresh in their minds, Zsuzsi was quickly labeled the "new Mrs. Simpson."



The couple looks happy in every photograph

Not only was Zsuzsi a non-aristocratic Jewish woman, but she was also five years William's senior, had two divorces behind her, and was raising a child alone. Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, Princess Margaret, began searching for a way to remove the unwanted suitor from the prince's life.

Royal Schemes

Under the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, those in line to the throne were required to seek the monarch's permission to marry; otherwise, the union could be declared void.

In 1969, Princess Margaret arrived in Tokyo under the guise of attending "British Week." In reality, she cared little for the event; her primary mission was to meet with William, gauge how serious his intentions were, and figure out their next move.



Princess Margaret

Princess Margaret handled the situation with delicate diplomacy. She told William she understood his feelings and was happy for him, but made it clear that a marriage to Zsuzsi was simply out of the question. "She doesn't blame me for falling in love with you," William told Zsuzsi, recounting his cousin's words. Yet despite the pressure, William seriously considered stepping away from his royal duties for the sake of love.

Family pressure continued to mount. When his father suffered a stroke, William was forced to return to England, where his relatives urged him to end the relationship. In 1970, William settled at the family estate in Northamptonshire. Still hopelessly in love, he wrote passionate letters to Zsuzsi in Tokyo. Against all odds, the couple planned to reunite, agreeing to meet in New York.

Tragedy at the Air Show

Tragically, the lovers would never see each other again. On August 28, 1972, the 30-year-old prince—an avid pilot—competed in an air race. While performing a maneuver, his single-engine light aircraft clipped a tree with its wing, crashed, and exploded. William was killed instantly. At the moment of his death, he was wearing a ring Zsuzsi had given him. Zsuzsi learned of the tragedy from the news. "I was utterly devastated," she recalled.



Wreckage at the crash site where William died

Zsuzsi Starkloff remained faithful to her love, choosing to live her life as William had taught her—by following her heart. She settled in a quiet town in Colorado, far from the spotlight. She lived to be 83, passing away in May 2020, thinking of her great love every single day. "Not a day goes by that I don't think of him," she once confessed. Though their love story faded into the shadows of history, William remained the prince who had given her a fairy tale. Until her final days, she wore a gift from her beloved: a chain holding a ring engraved with the letter "W."

Looking back at this tragedy today, it is clear how much times have changed. While a marriage between William and Zsuzsi was unthinkable in the 1960s, the royal family would later embrace unions like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's. William and Zsuzsi's story is not just about love, but about how prejudice and duty can shatter dreams. It invites us to wonder: could they have built a life together had tradition not stood in their way? Do you think love could have triumphed if the prince had defied royal expectations and social norms?