The Sad Life of Prince John of the United Kingdom

Prince John with Lala Bill. Image from Wikimedia Commons

On July 12, 1905, Prince John, the youngest child of the future King George V and Queen Mary,was born. He was, however, bent to have a shortlived and isolated life because of epilepsy. This condition was diagnosed when he was only four years old after falling on the floor following a fit.

Described as "winsome" and "painfully slow,” the young prince showed signs of insubordination and misbehavior, as well as repetitive behaviors. His other disabilities, believed to be signs of autism, also appeared at a young age.

As his condition worsened, he was sent to live at Wood Farm, an isolated portion of the Sandringham Estate together with his governess Charlotte Jane “Lala” Bill. Here Prince John maintained "a satellite with his own little household on an outlying farm on the Sandringham estate ... Guests at Balmoral remember him during the Great War as tall and muscular, but always a distant figure glimpsed from afar in the woods, escorted by his own retainers," wrote Charlotte Zeepvat. It was here where the prince died after a severe seizure on January 18, 1919, away from his family.

You can read more about Prince John here or watch a documentary about his tragic life here.