Where is Tiggy Legge-Bourke now? Prince William and Harry’s former nanny opened her own B&B in Wales and attended major royal event before her stepson Edward Pettifer’s tragic death
King Charles is ‘deeply saddened’ following the death of the stepson of Prince William and Harry’s former nanny in the New Orleans terror attack.
Edward Pettifer – the stepson of former royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke – was confirmed as one of the 14 people killed in the recent ISIS attack.
The 31-year-old’s cause of death was concluded by the New Orleans coroner as 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 rammed his rental truck through throngs of people who stood in the heart of the Louisiana city.
The monarch is understood to be in contact with the Pettifer family in the wake of their eldest son’s tragic death.
His stepmother Ms Legge-Bourke was a nanny to Prince William and Harry between 1993 and 1999 and has maintained a close relationship with both brothers – famously attending Harry and Meghan’s nuptial do.
She was regularly snapped with His Majesty through the years where she served as a close aide to the royals, proving to be a valuable support to the brothers in the wake of Diana, Princess of Wales’ death.
And even before she was appointed by the Palace, Alexandra ‘Tiggy’ Legge-Bourke had close ties to the Royal Family.
The then-Prince Charles arriving at Zurich Airport with Prince William, Prince Harry and their them- nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke for a ski-ing holiday
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.
This was shortly after after he and Diana separated – making her role, and the trust vested in her, all the 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, 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. And after graduating, she enrolled in a nursery teacher training course at the St Nicholas Montessori Centre.
After completing her education, she taught for a year in Fulham before moving on to opening her own nursery school in Battersea called Mrs Tiggywinkle’s.
Tiggy’s son Edward Pettifer, 31, from Chelsea, London, was been named as the British national killed in the tragic New Year 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 came the call from the Palace.
The nanny was reportedly thought of as William and Harry’s ‘big sister’ as she frequently joined the family on holiday and took them on outdoor excursions, teaching them to hunt, fish and shoot.
It was reported at the time that the relationship between the boys and Tiggy became even closer following 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 had kept in touch after enjoying a teenage romance and she even became godmother to Charles’s two sons by his first marriage.
Since, they have two sons of their own, Fred, whose godfather is Prince Harry and Tom the godson of Prince William. Tom, who was eight at the time, even acted as a page boy at William’s 2011 wedding to Kate Middleton.
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.
She is also the godmother to Archie, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s eldest child.
Among other events, she attended Prince Harry’s commissioning as a Second Lieutenant at Sandhurst in April 2006 and Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in May 2018.
Tiggy has remained close to both the royals over the years and is the godmother to Archie, the Duke of Sussex’s eldest child
Tiggy Legge-Bourke married her childhood sweetheart, security consultant Charles Pettifer in 1999
It was reported at the time that the relationship between the boys and Tiggy became even closer following their mother’s death in August 1997
Tiggy Legge-Bourke, pictured here in 2005, was nanny to Prince William and Prince Harry in their formative years
Since her retirement, she and her husband enjoyed a quite life in Wales, where they run their own farmhouse bed and breakfast.
Named, Ty’r Chanter Bed & Breakfast, the house is a ‘stone’s throw’ from Glanusk Park, the 6,000-acre family estate where she grew up.
Meanwhile, Edward from Chelsea, London, was the eldest son of Charles Pettifer, who was an ex-Coldstream Guards Officer and Camilla Wyatt, 58.
Similarly to his stepmother, he was an avid skier and fisherman and is believed to have been a student at £46,700-a-year Stowe school where Richard Branson, Henry Cavill and David Niven were educated.
Called Ed by his close friends, the 31-year-old lived with his mother and his brother in Chelsea with his grandmother Liz Pettifer also residing nearby, according to the Telegraph.
His grandfather David Pettifer, who is a well-known furniture dealer, passed away last August.
His mother and father went on to have another son, his brother Harry, 29, before parting ways in the mid-1990s.
Following their split, Charles Pettifer wed Tiggy Legge-Bourke, 59, who he had known since they were teenagers and was Edward’s godmother.
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.
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.
Speaking to the news of Edward Pettifer’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’.
His 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.
Among those who were killed in the New Years ISIS attack alongside Edward Pettifer where a Princeton graduate and an 18-year-old aspiring nurse.
Tiggy was thought of as a ‘big sister’ to William and often joined the family on holiday
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 for Princeton University, was taken to a New Orleans area hospital after being struck by the vehicle.
He was placed on life support until his family arrived, Kim Broussard, the athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High School, told KLFY.
Ni’kyra, who was known to her family as Cheyenne, ran toward the street into the path of the speeding truck after she, her cousin and friend panicked when gunfire rang out.
Reggie, of Baton Rouge, also died after he decided to go to Bourbon Street to ring in 2025 after a shift at work, 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 is among the at least 39 people injured from the massacre.
A fourth victim, Nicole, described as ‘a great mother’, was out with her friends for the holiday when the truck hit her. She was taken to University Hospital where she later died.
Edward Pettifer was among those killed and injured in the attack, which took place on New Year’s Day in New Orleans
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 centre 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.
