King Charles narrowly escaped death â and Britain’s royal future almost changed forever.
The monarch recently opened up about escaping a 1988 avalanche that killed his close friend, Major Hugh Lindsay, an equerry to Queen Elizabeth II, and seriously injured Patti Palmer-Tomkinson.
The 77-year-old held a special event at the Castle of Mey for members of the Assynt Mountain Rescue Team to mark the group’s 50th anniversary, The Times of London reported.
“Those close to the king have always shared that the event increased his sense of mortality and awareness, overall, of the fragility of life,” British royals expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital. “… The avalanche and its outcomes were confirmations that even with his position in the royal family, he was not immune from tragedy.”
“[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. “He said ‘it was a close thing.’ Obviously, after all these years, it is still much in his memory, but it had given him an insight into the valuable work we do and the dangers we face.”
Dyson noted that Charles was “very appreciative” of the work that mountain rescue teams carry out.
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“Charles has lived his entire life knowing that one day he would become king,” Kinsey Schofield, host of YouTubes “Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered” told Fox News Digital.
“The avalanche presented him with the opposite possibility, that he might never become king at all. He survived by seconds. … I think an experience like that inevitably changes your understanding of how fragile even the most carefully predetermined life can be. … There is something very poignant about hearing reflect on a moment at 39 when he very nearly lost his life.”
The BBC reported that the incident occurred on March 10, 1988, while Charles and his companions were skiing off-piste above his favorite Swiss resort of Klosters. Lindsay was sent 1,312 feet down the mountainside when the avalanche hit the royal party. Palmer-Tomkinson suffered serious leg injuries. The then-prince and several other members of the group, including their guide, were able to ski to safety.
Once the avalanche passed, Charles and the others rushed to help. Charles later recalled that their guide, Bruno Sprecher, located Palmer-Tomkinson, revived her with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and then handed Charles a shovel to help dig her out; Charles also used his hands. Sprecher then went to find Lindsay, who had been killed.
At the time, Marie Griffiths told the BBC she saw Charles being airlifted off the mountain.
“As far as I know, he hadn’t been injured,” she said. “He looked very distressed; somebody said he was crying, but he did walk to the helicopter, so he looked uninjured.”
Christopher Andersen, author of “Kate!,” told Fox News Digital that Charles later reflected,
