William Adelin was the only legitimate son and heir to Henry I, King of England and Duke of Normandy. As such, he was a pampered prince (which is what "Adelin" meant) who was being groomed for his future rule, including becoming the titular Duke of Normandy. Yet when he was seventeen, he was one of the many victims of a shipwreck when he was traveling in the very fast and impressively built White Ship that was going from Normandy to England. The White Ship was trying to overtake the King's ship, which had left Normandy earlier, in a party atmosphere and subsequently hit a rock and killed all but one person aboard. More significantly, the death of William Adelin would directly lead to the large scale civil war known as the Anarchy that happened after the death of Henry I.