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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASAThe monarch met with members of the Assynt Mountain Rescue Team over the weekend, as he spoke about surviving a terrifying avalanche that claimed the life of his friend in 1988
King Charles has recalled the terrifying moment he survived a deadly avalanche 38 years ago, while sharing stories with a group of Scottish mountain rescue volunteers.
On Saturday, 11 members of the 40-strong Assynt Mountain Rescue Team were invited to the Castle of Mey on the north coast of Scotland by the monarch, who hosted a special event to mark their group’s 50th anniversary.
The volunteers were told by the King how he survived a 1988 avalanche that killed one of his closest friends, Major Hugh Lindsay - who was a former equerry to the late Queen Elizabeth - and injured another on the ski slopes of Switzerland.
Speaking after the meeting, the 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.
“He was very appreciative of the work we do and said it was important to keep up with technological advancements — as we have done with the use of drones. But obviously his own experience has helped inform him of the work we and other mountain rescue teams carry out.”
The King, who was Prince Charles at the time of the avalanche, was skiing off-piste above the Swiss resort of Klosters on March 10 1988 when his group ran into trouble.
Lindsay was sent tumbling 400 metres down the mountainside, while another member of the royal party, Patti Palmer-Tomkinson, suffered serious leg injuries in the accident. Charles and several other members of the group, including their guide, were able to ski to safety.
As soon as the avalanche had passed, 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. Palmer-Tomkinson and Lindsay were flown to a local hospital where the major was declared dead.
Lindsay’s wife, Sarah, who worked in the Buckingham Palace press office and was six months pregnant at the time, was informed of her husband’s death. Against Sarah’s wishes, the Klosters avalanche featured in an episode of the Netflix series The Crown.
One eye-witness, Marie Griffiths, said she saw Charles being airlifted off the mountain. She said: “As far as I know he hadn’t been injured. He looked very distressed, somebody said he was crying, but he did walk to the helicopter so he looked uninjured.”
The group’s trip was cut short after the avalanche, as Charles returned to the chalet he was staying at - where the late Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson had spent the afternoon - before flying promptly back to the UK.
The disaster is said to have had a great impact on the King, who was enthralled while talking to the volunteers about their tireless work. Dyson said of their meeting: “He also asked about the jobs we do — we are all volunteers who give up our time freely. His Majesty was in very good form and offered us a dram made locally as well as tea and coffee.”