Kicking off the New Year, we saw a horrific attack on New Orleans – which seems to continue to unfold in the most unexpected ways. As it turns out, investigators have found a shocking connection between a victim of the ISIS-inspired terrorist attack and the Royal Family.
According to reports, one of the victims killed by terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar was actually a close family friend of Prince William and the Royal Family.
Heartbroken members of the Royal Family were devastated when they learned that Shamsud-Din Jabbar had driven a rented Ford pickup truck into a Bourbon Street crowd around 3:15 a.m. on January 1st, killing 15 before he exited the vehicle and was killed by police officers during a gun battle. Names of the victims have trickled out, with one being identified by Prince William as a close friend of the family. In a statement on Wednesday, the husband of Kate Middleton paid tribute to a British man killed in the attacks who was the son of their longtime nanny. Edward Pettifer, 31, was crawling the late-night New Orleans grounds when he was struck and killed by Din Jabbar. Born in London, Pettifer’s stepmother was the Royal Family’s former nanny who raised Prince William and Prince Harry when they were little.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have sent their condolences to the family of William’s former nanny, Tiggy Pettifer, whose stepson, Edward (31), was killed in a domestic terrorist attack in New Orleans 🖤🙏 pic.twitter.com/aZxrXSaR7J
— the_wales_family (@walesfam5) January 4, 2025
“Catherine and I have been shocked and saddened by the tragic death of Ed Pettifer,” read an Instagram statement by William and Kate. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Pettifer family and all those innocent people who have been tragically impacted by this horrific attack.”
Days after the attack, the U.K.’s Metropolitan Counter Terrorism Command released a statement acknowledging that officers were supporting the Pettifer family, but their connection with the Royal Family was not made widely known until Prince William’s statement. Addressing the loss of Edward, the Pettifer family stated, “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.” Fox News reported that the news has upset King Charles, who continues to seek treatment for cancer and has been in touch with the family to pass along his personal condolences. William’s nanny, known affectionately as “Tiggy,” married Pettifer’s father, Charles, a former British army officer, in 1999, shortly after she had stepped down as the boys’ nanny. The Pettifer family remained close with the Royal Family and rejoined them for the wedding of William and Kate in 2011.
Authorities are still investigating the motives behind Jabbar’s attack – claiming that he was “trying to run over as many people as he possibly could” with “very intentional behavior.”