King Charles reflected on his brush with death in a devastating avalanche nearly four decades ago, during a gathering at the Castle of Mey on Scotland’s north coast over the weekend.
The monarch had invited 11 volunteers from the 40-strong Assynt Mountain Rescue Team to a special reception celebrating the group’s half-century of service.
While speaking with the rescuers, the King opened up about surviving the 1988 disaster at the Swiss ski resort of Klosters, which claimed the life of his close friend Major Hugh Lindsay, a former equerry to the late Queen Elizabeth.
The tragedy, which also left another member of the royal skiing party seriously injured, clearly remains vivid in the King’s mind 38 years on.
King Charles reflected on his brush with death in a devastating avalanche nearly four decades ago, during a gathering at the Castle of Mey on Scotland’s north coast over the weekend.
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On March 10 1988, the then Prince Charles was skiing off-piste above Klosters when the group encountered disaster. An avalanche struck, hurling Major Lindsay some 400 metres down the mountainside to his death.
Patti Palmer-Tomkinson, another member of the royal party, sustained severe leg injuries in the incident. Charles himself, along with several companions and their guide, managed to ski clear of danger.
Lindsay, who had served as equerry to Queen Elizabeth, was transported by helicopter to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
His wife Sarah, then six months pregnant and employed in the Buckingham Palace press office, received the devastating news.
The monarch had invited 11 volunteers from the 40-strong Assynt Mountain Rescue Team to a special reception celebrating the group’s half-century of service.
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PA
The incident was later depicted in an episode of Netflix’s The Crown, against Sarah Lindsay’s wishes.
In the chaotic moments after the avalanche subsided, Charles rushed back alongside the guide and a Swiss police officer who had been accompanying the group, frantically clawing through the snow with their bare hands to reach the buried victims.
The skiing holiday was then immediately abandoned.
Charles made his way back to the chalet where the late Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson had spent the afternoon before the group flew back to Britain without delay.
The disaster is understood to have left a profound and lasting impression on the King.
Speaking after the reception, team leader Ben Dyson told The Times: “[The King] spoke of the near miss he had in that avalanche in the context of the dangers mountains contain.
“He said: ‘It was a close thing’. Obviously after all these years it is still much in his memory but it has given him an insight to the valuable work we do and the dangers we face.”
Dyson added that the King expressed strong support for embracing new technology, particularly the use of drones in rescue operations. “But obviously his own experience has helped inform him of the work we and other mountain rescue teams carry out,” he said.
The monarch also took an interest in the volunteers’ day jobs, given that all 40 members serve without pay.
Dyson described the King as being “in very good form,” noting that he treated the group to locally produced whisky as well as tea and coffee.