TWO MINUTES AGO: King Charles opens up about near-death experience – Leaves Everyone SPeechless
King Charles opened up about the horrifying accident.
The King has spoken out about his brush with death (Image: Getty)
King Charles has opened up about his near-death experience that claimed the life of one of his friends. During a recent meeting with the Assynt Mountain Rescue Team at the Castle of Mey in Scotland earlier this month, the King opened up about being caught in an avalanche in 1988, telling the group: “It was a close thing”.
In March 1988, the then Prince Charles was on a skiing holiday at Klosters in Switzerland with Diana, Princess of Wales, Sarah Ferguson and a number of close friends. On March 10, Charles and other members of the group, including Major Hugh Lindsay, were skiing off-piste when an avalanche hit and claimed the life of Major Lindsay, while also injuring others.
“[The King] spoke of the near miss he had in that avalanche in the context of the dangers mountains contain,” team leader Ben Dyson told The Times after the meeting.
The King opened up about the incident (Image: Assynt Mountain Rescue Team / Facebook)
“He said ‘it was a close thing’, Mr Dyson added. “Obviously, after all these years, it is still much in his memory, but it has given him an insight into the valuable work we do and the dangers we face.”
Mr Dyson said Charles was “very appreciative” of the work that mountain rescue teams carry out.
The King’s terrifying accident took place on March 10, 1988, when he and the group went out to tackle a famously challenging route on Gotschnagrat Mountain while Diana and Sarah stayed back at the lodge. Other people in the group were a mountain guide, Major Hugh Lindsay, Patti Palmer-Tomkinson and a Swiss police officer.
The mountain slope that Charles opted to try is “among the steepest in Switzerland and is rarely open to the general public … they are regarded as suitable only for experienced skiers like Prince Charles.”
The King is a talented skiier (Image: Getty)
The future King returned after the horrifying accident (Image: Getty)
At the time, The Guardian reported how the day progressed. It explained that while the group was “in a stationary position off-piste” – which means that they were away from the prepared ski runs – an avalanche started above them.
According to Buckingham Palace’s account at the time, the group were able to take cover, but Major Hugh Lindsay and Patti Palmer-Tomkinson were caught in a sudden snow slide. Palmer-Tomkinson suffered severe leg injuries, but Lindsay fatally fell 400 meters down the mountainside and was buried by the snow.
Charles and the other members of the group weren’t injured and tried to dig their injured friends out. The BBC reported that “as soon as the danger had passed, Prince Charles, the guide and a Swiss police officer, who was skiing with the party, raced back to help the victims, digging with their bare hands in the snow to reach them.”
Lindsay and Palmer-Tomkinson were helicoptered to a hospital in the nearby town of Davos, but Lindsay was pronounced dead on arrival. Lindsay was 34-years-old when he died and was expecting a baby at the time with his wife, Sarah, who worked in the Buckingham Palace press office.
Major Hugh Lindsay’s coffin was returned to the UK after his death (Image: Getty)
Charles was, understandably, devastated by the death of his close friend. An eyewitness told the BBC: “He looked very distressed, somebody said he was crying, but he did walk to the helicopter so he looked uninjured.” The group returned to RAF Northolt in West London shortly after the tragedy, and Lindsay’s coffin was carried off the plane by his colleagues from the army.
Andrew Morton wrote about Diana, Princess of Wales’ reaction to the accident in his book ‘Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words’. He explained: “For what seemed like an eternity, the Princess and her sister-in-law sat at the top of the stairs, hardly daring to breathe, let alone move, as they waited anxiously for more news.
“Shortly afterwards Prince Charles, sounding shocked and distressed, rang and told Philip Mackie that he was all right, but Major Hugh Lindsay… had been killed. Everyone started shaking in the first paroxysms of grief.”
He continued: “The prince was not immediately convinced that they should abandon their holiday but Diana prevailed. She appreciated that he was suffering from shock and could not at that awful time comprehend the enormity of the tragedy. For once Diana felt absolutely in command of a very trying situation. In fact she was quite bossy, telling the Prince that it was their responsibility to return to Britain with Hugh’s body.”
