King Charles is “deeply saddened” following the death of Prince William’s stepson and Harry’s former nanny in the New Orleans terrorist attack.
Edward Pettifer, stepson of former royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, was confirmed as one of 14 people killed in the recent ISIS attack.
The New Orleans coroner concluded that the 31-year-old man’s cause of death was blunt force injuries following the incident on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.
Edward and 13 others were killed, and dozens injured, after Army veteran Shamsud Din Jabbar plowed his rented truck into a crowd of people in the heart of the Louisiana city.
The monarch is understood to be in contact with the Pettifer family following the tragic death of his eldest son.
His stepmother, Ms Legge-Bourke, was Prince William and Harry’s nanny between 1993 and 1999 and has maintained a close relationship with both brothers, attending Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
She was regularly photographed with Her Majesty over the years in which she served as a close aide to the royal, proving to be a valuable support to the siblings following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
And even before being appointed by the Palace, Alexandra ‘Tiggy’ Legge-Bourke had close links to the Royal Family.
The then Prince Charles arrives at Zurich Airport with Prince William, Prince Harry and their nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke for a ski holiday.
Her father had served in the Royal Horse Guards and her mother became Princess Anne’s lady-in-waiting in 1987.
Meanwhile, his brother, Harry Legge-Bourke, had been Honorary Page to the late Queen Elizabeth II from 1985 to 1987.
So it was only natural that Prince Charles hired her as an assistant and nanny to his sons, Princes William and Harry, in 1993.
This was shortly after he and Diana had separated, which made his role and the trust placed in her even more significant.
Tiggy was born Alexandra Shân Legge-Bourke on April 1, 1965, to parents William and Dame Elizabeth.
She grew up on the family’s 6,000-acre Glanusk estate in Powys, Wales and was educated at Heathfield School, a girls’ boarding school in Ascot.
Tiggy then went to finish school at the Institut Alpin Videmanette in Rougemont, Switzerland, where Princess Diana also attended. And after graduating, she enrolled in a nursery teacher training course at St Nicholas Montessori Centre.
After completing her education, she taught for a year in Fulham before opening her own nursery school in Battersea called Mrs Tiggywinkle’s.
Tiggy’s son Edward Pettifer, 31, from Chelsea, London, was named as the British national killed in the tragic New Year’s Eve terror attack in New Orleans.
King Charles is said to be “deeply saddened” by the death of the stepson of Prince William and Prince Harry’s former nanny, Alexandra Pettifer, better known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke (pictured in 2022).
Tiggy Pettifer and her son Tom Pettifer attended the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018.
Then the call came from the Palace.
The nanny was reportedly considered William and Harry’s “big sister,” as she frequently joined the family during vacations and took them on outdoor excursions, teaching them how to hunt, fish, and shoot.
It was reported at the time that the relationship between the children and Tiggy became even closer after their mother’s death in August 1997.
She retired from being a royal nanny when she married her childhood sweetheart and security consultant Charles Pettifer in 1999.
While neither Charles nor Camilla attended, both Princes William and Harry were present at the event.
Tiggy and her now-husband stayed in touch after enjoying a teenage romance and she even became godmother to Charles’ two children in his first marriage.
Since then, they have two sons, Fred, whose godfather is Prince Harry, and Tom, Prince William’s godson. Tom, who was eight years old at the time, even acted as a page boy at William’s wedding to Kate Middleton in 2011.
A constant at the princes’ side, Tiggy has remained close to the royals over the years and met Meghan before she and Harry married.
She is also the godmother of Archie, the eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Among other events, he attended Prince Harry’s appointment as a second lieutenant at Sandhurst in April 2006 and Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in May 2018.
Tiggy has remained close to the royals over the years and is godmother to Archie, the Duke of Sussex’s eldest son.
Tiggy Legge-Bourke married her childhood love, security consultant Charles Pettifer in 1999.
It was reported at the time that the relationship between the children and Tiggy became even closer after their mother’s death in August 1997.
Tiggy Legge-Bourke, pictured here in 2005, was a nanny to Prince William and Prince Harry in their formative years.
Since retirement, she and her husband have enjoyed a quiet life in Wales, where they run their own bed and breakfast on a farm.
The house, called Ty’r Chanter Bed & Breakfast, is a stone’s throw from Glanusk Park, the 6,000-acre family estate where he grew up.
Meanwhile, Edward of Chelsea, London, was the eldest son of Charles Pettifer, a former Coldstream Guards officer, and 58-year-old Camilla Wyatt.
Like his stepmother, he was an avid skier and fisherman and is believed to have been a student at the £46,700-a-year Stowe school, where Richard Branson, Henry Cavill and David Niven were educated.
Called Ed by close friends, the 31-year-old lived with his mother and brother in Chelsea and his grandmother Liz Pettifer also resided nearby, according to the Telegraph.
His grandfather David Pettifer, a well-known furniture dealer, died last August.
His mother and father had another child, his brother Harry, 29, before separating in the mid-1990s.
After their separation, Charles Pettifer married Tiggy Legge-Bourke, 59, whom he had known since they were teenagers and was Edward’s godmother.
Pettifer and Legge-Bourke welcomed two sons, Tom, 22, who is the future monarch’s godson, and Fred, 23, who is Prince Harry’s godson.
She retired from being a royal nanny when she married her childhood sweetheart and security consultant Charles Pettifer in 1999, and although neither Charles nor Camilla attended, both Princes William and Harry were present at the event.
Speaking about the news of Edward Pettifer’s death, a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development spokesperson told MailOnline: “We are supporting the family of a British national who has died in New Orleans and are in contact with local authorities. “.
His family also issued a statement expressing their “devastation” at his death.
‘The entire family is devastated by the tragic news of Ed’s death in New Orleans. He was a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend to many.
“He will be missed terribly by all. Our thoughts are with the other families who have lost relatives due to this terrible attack.
‘We request that we be able to mourn the loss of Ed as a family privately. Thank you,’ the statement said.
Among those killed in the New Year’s ISIS attack alongside Edward Pettifer was a Princeton graduate and an 18-year-old aspiring nurse.
Tiggy was considered a “big sister” to William and often joined the family during holidays.
Tiger Bech, 28, Ni’kyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, 18, Reggie Hunter, 37, and Nicole Perez, 27, lost their lives in the senseless attack in the French Quarter.
Bech, who played football at Princeton University, was taken to a New Orleans-area hospital after being hit by the vehicle.
He was placed on life support until his family arrived, Kim Broussard, athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High School, told KLFY.
Ni’kyra, who was known to her family as Cheyenne, ran across the street into the path of the speeding truck after she, her cousin and her friend panicked when gunshots rang out.
Reggie, of Baton Rouge, also died after he decided to go to Bourbon Street to ring in the year 2025 after a work shift, his cousin, Shirell Jackson, told NOLA.com.
Both he and his cousin were hit by the truck. He died from his injuries, while his cousin was among at least 39 people injured in the massacre.
A fourth victim, Nicole, described as “a great mother,” was on vacation with her friends when the truck hit her. She was taken to University Hospital where she later died.
Edward Pettifer was among those killed and wounded in the attack, which took place on New Year’s Day in New Orleans.
As U.S. authorities continue to investigate the horrific terrorist attack, attention has focused on Jabbar’s home in a trailer park in the Rushwood neighborhood of north Houston: a dilapidated bungalow with geese, chickens and sheep roaming around. the patio
It’s unclear exactly what motivated Jabbar, but reports suggest his life went off the rails after he left the military in July 2020. The cash-strapped, double-divorced father’s real estate business was faltering.
Court records show Jabbar faced a deteriorating financial situation in 2022 while separating from his then-wife. Jabbar said he was behind on house payments and had racked up credit card debt and wanted to finalize the divorce quickly.
It is also unclear how involved he was with the Masjid Bilal mosque, a sprawling two-story brick complex that also includes a school, which is just a few minutes’ walk from his home.
The nearby religious center and ISGH have worked hard in recent years to distance themselves from the hardline Islamist views that gave rise to such violent jihadist groups as ISIS and Al Qaeda.