New Orleans terror victim was stepson of William and Harry’s nanny

The British victim of the New Orleans terror attack was the stepson of Prince William and Prince Harry’s former nanny.

The King was deeply saddened by the death of Edward Pettifer, 31, Buckingham Palace sources said.

Pettifer, from Chelsea, west London, was named as one of the 14 people killed when a pick-up truck rammed into crowds on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the early hours of New Year’s Day. 

He was the eldest son of the former Coldstream Guards officer Charles Pettifer, 59, and Camilla Wyatt, 58. After the couple separated in the mid-Nineties Charles Pettifer married Tiggy Legge-Bourke, 59, who was nanny to William and Harry from 1993 until 1999. 

Legge-Bourke and Charles Pettifer had known each other since they were teenagers. She was godmother to Edward before she married his father. The couple had two sons together — Tom, 22, who is William’s godson, and Fred, 23, Harry’s godson. Tom was a page boy at the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2011.

Legge-Bourke is also godmother to Prince Archie, five, the son of Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

It is understood the King was made aware of Edward Pettifer’s death through official channels earlier this week. Palace sources said he was deeply saddened and has been in touch with the family to share personal condolences. Prince William is also understood to have been made aware.

• New Orleans attack prompts fear of an Isis resurgence

Pettifer died as a result of blunt force injuries after the terror attack on January 1. The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old former US soldier from Texas, allegedly got out of the vehicle and fired a gun before being killed by police. 

 

The Metropolitan Police said family liaison officers were supporting Pettifer’s family and helping them through the process of returning his body to the UK.

His family said in a statement: “The entire family are devastated at the tragic news of Ed‘s death in New Orleans. He was a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and a friend to so many.

“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 Foreign Office is also supporting the family and has been in contact with local authorities in New Orleans.

The attack is being investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism.

 

The FBI said on Friday that a fire started by Jabbar at an Airbnb rental property in New Orleans had failed to destroy evidence, enabling investigators to recover bomb-making materials.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) “determined that Jabbar set a small fire in the hallway and strategically placed accelerants throughout the house in his effort to destroy it and other evidence of his crime,” the FBI said.

“After Jabbar left the residence, the fire burned to a point that it extinguished itself prior to spreading to other rooms.”

• Who are the victims of the New Orleans attack?

The FBI said precursors chemicals for bomb-making and “a privately made device suspected of being a silencer for a rifle” were also found at the house.

More than 200 extra officials have been brought in “in order to process evidence, support victims and investigate leads and tips,” the FBI added.

Pettifer had been listed as an unnamed British citizen by the office of Dwight McKenna, the New Orleans coroner, on Friday afternoon when it released the victims’ identities. Many had already been named by their families and friends.

This included Ni’Kyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, 18, who aspired to be a nurse; Reggie Hunter, a 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge, and Martin Bech, 27, a former football player at Princeton University.

Hunter’s cousin, Shirell Jackson, said: “It’s just devastating he’s gone. We were making plans for holidays for this upcoming year. To not have him here to be a part of those plans with us is a punch to the gut.”

Dedeaux, who had visited New Orleans to celebrate the new year before starting a nursing course, was the youngest of the victims. She was reportedly hit by Jabbar’s pickup truck while fleeing the sound of gunshots.

A total of 35 people were injured in the attack but the FBI said it expected that number to rise “as additional people either take themselves to hospitals with injuries or ask for assistance”.

Thirteen people remain in University Medical Centre New Orleans, eight of them in intensive care.