Sir, - On September 17th you kindly published my letter requesting information on Hitler's Irish connections. Thanks to your readers, I now have the information I need; I thought I might share it with any of your readers whose curiosity may have been aroused by my letter.
William Patrick Hitler did exist and was a nephew of Adolf Hitler. William Patrick was the son of Alois Hitler - Adolf Hitler's half brother. His mother was Bridget Dowling, who met Alois when he was a waiter in the Shelbourne Hotel in 1909; in 1910 they eloped to London, where they married. William Patrick was born the following year.
In the 1930s William Patrick Hitler lived in Germany, taking advantage of his relationship to Hitler. However, by 1939 he and his mother had moved to the United States where he became a critic of his uncle. During the second World War he served in the US Navy. He was still alive in 1977; but nothing further is known of him after that date.
Full details can be found in Hitler - His Irish Relatives in Irish Roots, issue 1, spring 1992, pages 30-33 (ISSN 0791-6329; Belgrave, Publications, Belgrave Avenue, Cork). Thanking you. - Yours, etc,
Prinsengracht 537-IV,
1016HS Amsterdam.