Prince William is named after a handsome royal with tragic end

Interesting details about King Charles and Princess Diana's eldest son Prince William's name have been revealed.

William, heir apparent to the British throne, is reportedly named after a lesser-known handsome 30-year-old royal who had lost his life in a horror plane crash. He was one of King Charles's "lifetime role models."

Kate Middleton's husband will be named King William V when he takes throne, however, his name is not inspired by the four previous King William's before him, but rather by a very handsome prince whom Charles admired "profoundly", according to a royal writer.

The future monarch's name is said to be "a tribute to a swashbuckling royal cousin - friend, role model and hero to Harry and William's father Charles. He was killed in a tragic plane crash in 1972", according to the Daily Mail.

Prince William of Gloucester, who died aged 30, was an older cousin of the current monarch (then Prince of Wales) Charles. He was unmarried and without children.

King Charles is said to have been very fond of him profoundly, thus naming his first son after him in 1982. The two William's also much in common, from the good looks to the Eton education as well as interest in sports and flying.

Prince William of Gloucester was a grandson of King George V and paternal cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. At birth he was fourth in line to the throne, however, at the time of his death he was ninth.

Even though he was a licenced pilot, William crashed his Piper Cherokee in front of 30,000 during an air race in August 1972 and died. The royal also reportedly suffered from porphyria, probably hereditary, which is conjectured to be the illness that caused George III to "go mad".