King Charles ‘deeply saddened’ as stepson of William and Harry’s royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke is killed by ISIS fanatic in New Orleans terror attack

King Charles is said to be ‘deeply saddened’ following the death of the stepson of Prince William and Harry’s former nanny in the New Orleans terror attack. 

Edward Pettifer, 31, – the stepson of former royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke – was confirmed as one of the 14 people killed in the chilling New Year terror attack.

The 31-year-old’s cause of death was concluded by the New Orleans coroner as blunt force injuries following the attack on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.

The stepson of Ms Legge-Bourke was killed along 13 others – and dozens injured – after army veteran Shamsud Din Jabbar rammed his rental truck through throngs of people stood along the heart of the Louisiana city.

A senior FBI official has said the attack was ‘premeditated’ and an ‘evil’ act of terrorism, and said Jabbar was ‘100% inspired by ISIS’, also known as Islamic State. 

It comes after an ISIS flag was found on the back of Jabbar’s rental truck, leading the FBI to probe the 42-year-old’s ties to the extremist group and begin a hunt for potential accomplices

The monarch is understood to be in contact with the Pettifer family in the wake of their eldest son’s tragic death. 

His stepmother Tiggy was nanny to  to Prince William and Harry between 1993 and 1999 and has maintained a close relationship with both Prince William and Harry.

She was regularly snapped with His Majesty throughout the years she served as a close aide to the royal family, proving to be a valuable support to the brothers in the wake of Princess Diana’s death. 

Edward from Chelsea, London was the eldest son of Charles Pettifer, who was an ex-Coldstream Guards Officer and Camilla Wyatt, 58.

The couple went on to have another son, named Harry, 29, before parting ways in the 1990s. 

Following his split from the mother of his children, Charles Pettifer wed Tiggy Legge-Bourke, 59, who he had known since they were teenagers and was also the godmother of his eldest son Edward.

Mr Pettifer and Ms Legge-Bourke went on to welcome two sons, 22-year-old Tom, who is the future monarch’s godson as well as Fred, 23, who is Prince Harry’s godson. 

Even before she was appointed by the Palace, Alexandra  ‘Tiggy’ Legge-Bourke had close ties to the Royal Family. 

Her father had once served in the Royal Horse Guards and her mother became a lady-in-waiting to Princess Anne in 1987.

Her brother, Harry Legge-Bourke, meanwhile, had been Page of Honour to the late Queen Elizabeth II from 1985 to 1987.

So it was natural that she should have been hired by Prince Charles as an assistant and as a nanny to his sons, Princes William and Harry, in 1993.

She grew up on the family’s 6,000-acre Glanusk Estate in Powys, Wales and was educated at Heathfield School, an all-girls boarding school in Ascot.

Tiggy then went to finishing school at the Institut Alpin Videmanette in Rougemont, Switzerland, where Princess Diana also attended. 

After graduating, she enrolled in a nursery teacher training course at the St Nicholas Montessori Centre. 

Following her education, she taught for a year in Fulham before moving on to opening her own nursery school in Battersea called Mrs Tiggywinkle’s. Then came the call from the Palace. 

As she grew to spend more time with the young royals, her close bond with William and Harry only grew, with the former nanny’s son Tom acting as a page boy at William’s wedding to Kate in 2011.

She retired from being a royal nanny when she married her childhood sweetheart and security consultant Charles Pettifer in 1999, and while neither Charles nor Camilla attended, both Princes William and Harry were present at the event.

A constant by the princes’ side, Tiggy has remained close to both the royals over the years, and met Meghan before she and Harry married, and is now godmother to Archie, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s eldest child.

Ms Legg-Bourke now runs Ty’r Chanter Bed & Breakfast a ‘stone’s throw’ from Glanusk Park in Wales where she was raised. 

The advanced fly-fishing instructor is also said to give lessons to her guests. 

Similarly to his godmother and stepmother, Edward was an avid skier and fisherman and is believed to have been a student at a prestigious boarding school in Buckinghamshire called Stowe School. 

Edward, who was dubbed Ed by closed friends was believed to have lived with his mother and his brother in Chelsea, with his grandmother Liz Pettifer also living nearby according to the Telegraph. 

His mother Camilla, who is the child of a horserace breeder, is believed to have not married again after her relationship with Edward’s father.

His grandfather David Pettifer, who is a well-known furniture dealer, passed away last August. 

Edward was among 14 who died in the attack in New Orleans which included a Princeton graduate and an 18-year-old aspiring nurse.  

In addition to the 14 dead, dozens of people were also injured when army veteran Shamsud Din Jabbar rammed his rental truck through throngs of people stood along New Orleans’ iconic Bourbon Street.

A senior FBI official has said the attack was ‘premeditated’ and an ‘evil’ act of terrorism, and said Jabbar was ‘100% inspired by ISIS’, also known as Islamic State.

This statement was made after an Islamic State flag was found in the back of Jabbar’s rental truck, leading the FBI to probe the 42-year-old’s ties to the extremist group and begin a hunt for potential accomplices.

Speaking to the news of the British citizen’s death, a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the MailOnline: ‘We are supporting the family of a British National who has died in New Orleans and are in contact with local authorities’.

Edward Pettifer’s family also issued a statement, in which they expressed their ‘devastation’ at his passing. 

‘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. Thank you,’ the statement read.

As US authorities continue to investigate the horrendous terror attack, attention has turned to Jabbar’s home in a trailer park in the Rushwood neighborhood of northern Houston — a run-down bungalow with geese, chickens, and sheep roaming the yard. 

It remains unclear exactly what motivated Jabbar, but reports suggest his life had gone off the rails after he quit the Army in July 2020. The cash-strapped father and double divorcee’s real estate business was floundering.

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 accumulated credit card debt and wanted to quickly finalize the divorce.

It’s also unclear how heavily involved he was with Masjid Bilal mosque, a sprawling double-story brick complex that also includes a school, which is just a few minutes’ walk from his house.

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.

Its mosques, which were founded by Pakistani immigrants from the 1960s onward, are used as polling stations; leaders publicly proclaim a moderate form of Islam compatible with modern-day US lifestyles.

ISGH has hosted dozens of interfaith gatherings and worked with local Christian churches on charity food drives, according to CAIR.

But they also have a sketchy track record when it comes to hard line Islamist views, which were exposed after the 9/11 terror attacks on the US and tougher efforts to root out home-grown religious extremists.

Notably, ISGH in 2001 hired the Algerian cleric Bouchikhi, who served as the spiritual leader at a southeast Houston mosque, and who was arrested and then deported in 2011, reportedly for immigration violations.

Bouchikhi has a record of making extreme statements about non-Muslims and women that are at odds with ISGH’s professed values.

Jabbar’s alignment with a terrorist group such as Islamic State has come as a shock to those who used to know him, with one former classmate now telling DailyMail.com that ‘wasn’t the kind of guy who looked for trouble’.

 Kendrick Watson Smith Sr., who went to middle and high school in Texas with Jabbar and his twin sister, said ‘Sham’ – as his classmates used to call him – was smart, ‘very mild-mannered’, and seemingly well-liked because of his ‘cool personality’.

‘As far as I can remember, I don’t recall him being a troublemaker or anything like that,’ Smith, 42, said. ‘That just wasn’t in his character. He was bookish and quiet, but he had a group of friends.’

He also recalled how he was surprised when Jabbar went into the military, claiming it seemed he had been on track to go off to college and become a lawyer or doctor.

Jabbar served in the Army from March 2007 to July 2020, deploying to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010. He transferred to the army reserve in 2015 and left in 2020 with the rank of staff sergeant.

Jabbar earned nearly two dozens awards while serving in the military, including a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Task & Purpose reported.

This is a breaking news story and is being updated.