A 31-year-old British man who was killed in a terror attack in New Orleans was the stepson of Tiggy Legge-Bourke, Prince William’s and Prince Harry’s former nanny.
Edward Pettifer was killed in the early hours of New Year’s Day when a rented SUV, believed to be driven by 42-year-old army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, rammed into a crowd on the city’s famous Bourbon Street. The victim, from Chelsea in west London, was the eldest son of Charles Pettifer, 59, a former Coldstream Guards officer, and Camilla Wyatt, 58, the daughter of a racehorse breeder.
Charles later married Ms Legge-Bourke, 59, who was a nanny to William and Harry from 1993 until 1999. The former nanny once referred to the royal princes as “my babies”, breaching stiff royal rules.
Brit killed in New Orleans ISIS terror attack is stepson of William and Harry’s nanny
The former nanny once called William and Harry ‘my babies’
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Ms Pettifer with Charles, William and Harry at Zurich Airport in Switzerland, as they headed on a skiing holiday
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Ms Pettifer also hit headlines in January 1998 after taking the young princes on a hunt, and passed out glasses of sloe gin as they chased animals. The same year, St James’ Palace launched an inquiry after it was revealed she had taken the young princes to abseil the 50-metre dam wall of Grwyne Fawr Reservoir in Wales.
But perhaps one of the biggest eyebrow-raisers in Ms Pettifer’s career was the gaffe when the then-34-year-old declined to invite Camilla Parker-Bowles to her wedding to Mr Pettifer in October 1999. Already inviting her former employer, then Prince Charles and his two sons, the exclusion of Camilla was dubbed a huge gaffe at the time – and it was reportedly after the Duchess referred to Ms Pettifer as “the hired help”.
While both William and Harry attended the day, Charles declined the invite claiming he had a prior engagement. The former nanny also reportedly supported William and Harry following the sudden and tragic death of their mother, Diana.
King Charles has been made aware of the former nanny’s stepson’s death from royal aides and was “deeply saddened”, with royal sources confirming the King has written privately to Mr Pettifer’s family to share his personal condolences. There is no further comment from Buckingham Palace.
In a statement, Pettifer’s devastated family described him as “a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and a friend to so many.” They added: “We will all miss him terribly. Our thoughts are with the other families who have lost their family members due to this terrible attack. We request that we can grieve the loss of Ed as a family in private.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the attack was a “premeditated” and “evil” act of terrorism, adding Jabbar was “100% inspired by ISIS”, also known as Islamic State. Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said the suspect was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and damage he did” and had driven deliberately into the crowd before opening fire.
The force later revealed they did not believe Jabbar was “solely responsible” for the attack, and were “aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates. Louisiana Rep Troy Carter said: “There is an ongoing investigation which limits our ability to talk much more than that, other than to clearly say that this coward did not act alone, and our resources are on the ground turning over every stone. There will not be a rock big enough for them to hide.”