Very tragic.
More info at
Princes William and Harry 'shocked' after Charles Stisted killed in helicopter crash | Mail Online
Princes William and Harry were in deep shock last night after a friend of the Royal Family was killed in a helicopter crash.
Charlie Stisted, 47 was one of three men returning home from a hunting trip when their aircraft came down in County Down, Northern Ireland yesterday afternoon.
Mr Stisted was head of the Guards Polo Club - whose president is the Duke of Edinburgh - and was a close friend of the Prince of Wales and Princes William and Harry.
Royal connections: Charles Stisted with the Duke of Edinburgh
Last night a Clarence House spokesman said: 'The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Prince Harry are all shocked and deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy.
'Their Royal Highnesses thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed at this dreadful time.'
Tragic: Ian Wooldridge, pictured with the Queen at the Queen's Cup polo tournament at Guards Polo Club last year
Also killed in the crash were construction tycoon Ian Wooldridge and the pilot of the stricken craft. Mr Wooldridge was another polo enthusiast who had links to the Royal Family.
A member of the public had reported the aircraft being in distress over the Mourne mountain range in County Down and rescue teams found the wreckage.
Shocked: Crash victim Charlie Stisted was chief executive of the Guards Polo Club and a good friend of Princes William and Harry
Air accident investigators were yesterday beginning a probe into Saturday’s crash – the latest in a series of tragedies to blight the remote region.
Relatives at Mr Wooldridge’s family estate in Windlesham, Surrey, were devastated yesterday at the death of the businessman, who with his 50-year-old brother Graham, ran a £40million-a-year firm specialising in demolition and construction.
A worker at the 230-acre Twelve Oaks estate said the family would not be speaking to anyone about what had happened.
Doomed: An Agusta helicopter similar to the one in which Mr Stisted, Mr Wooldridge and a third man were killed
At the home of Julie Fereday, Mr Wooldridge’s ex-partner and the mother of his 21-year-old son, Charlie, a friend said she was ‘in mourning’ and was not making any comment.
Speaking from the doorstep of the terraced house in Crowthorne, Berkshire, the friend said they had been informed of the tragedy by police in Northern Ireland.
Mr Wooldridge was a keen polo player and active member of the Guards club, where the Prince of Wales and Princes William and Harry are regular participants.
Through his links with Irish construction giants the Harcourt Group he set up a lucrative sponsorship deal for the sport’s prestigious Queen’s Cup, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.
He was also a sponsor of his local football team – Windlesham United – and provided their team strip for games.
South Down MP Margaret Ritchie, who visited rescue teams at the site, said: ‘The local community is in absolute shock.’
In June last year three men were killed when their plane crashed into a field near a private landing strip at Kilkeel, County Down.
EGAC (Belfast City 25 miles away) at 15.20 UTC Saturday was 01012KT, 9k, FEW017 SCT023. Seems Mourne mountains in area of accident 2200ft ish tops.