Alexandra Shân "Tiggy" Pettifer (née Legge-Bourke; born 1 April 1965) is a British former nanny and companion to Prince William and Prince Harry. She was a personal assistant to Charles III (then Prince of Wales) from 1993 to 1999. She has used her married name since her marriage to Charles Pettifer in 1999.

Background

Legge-Bourke is the daughter of William Legge-Bourke (1939–2009), who served in the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

. After taking a degree at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, her father then became a merchant banker at Kleinwort Benson and was deputy lieutenant of Powys from 1997 until his death. Legge-Bourke's mother,

Dame ''Dame'' is an honorific title and the feminine form of address for the honour of damehood in many Christian chivalric orders, as well as the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system and those of several oth ...

Shân Legge-Bourke (born 1943), was the only child of Wilfred Bailey, 3rd Baron Glanusk (1891–1948), a soldier who became a colonel in the Grenadier Guards and also served as Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire. When Shân Bailey's father died in 1948, she and her mother inherited his estate at Glanusk Park, near Crickhowell in Powys, while his peerage went to a cousin. Shân Legge-Bourke was appointed a

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...

to the Princess Royal in 1987, was

High Sheriff of Powys The office of High Sheriff of Powys was established in 1974 as part of the creation of the county of Powys in Wales, replacing the shrievalties of the amalgamated counties: High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire, High Sheriff of Radnorshire and High She ...

in 1991, and was the

Lord Lieutenant of Powys This is an incomplete list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant for Powys. Prior to 1974, the Monarch was represented in the area by the Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire, the Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire and the Lord Lieutenant of Breck ...

until 2018. Tiggy Legge-Bourke's paternal grandfather, Sir Harry Legge-Bourke (1914–1973), was a member of parliament for the Isle of Ely from 1945 until 1973 and was chairman of the

1922 Committee The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The committee, consisting of all Conservative backbench member ...

of Conservative backbenchers. His death in 1973 led to a by-election won by the Liberal Clement Freud. She is a cousin of the public relations executive and television personality Eleanor Legge-Bourke, a contestant of '' Nice People'' in 2003, which is a French Television version of the show ''

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...

''. Legge-Bourke was reported in 1994 to be fond of

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...

and long walks in the country.

Early life

Brought up at Glanusk Park, a estate in Wales, Tiggy Legge-Bourke was educated at Heathfield School, Ascot,Who's working for who now... Tiggy and the Spook in ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' #93 for 6–19 November 1999 online at mail-archive.com. Retrieved 18 February 2008. which she left with four O-levels,''Second Front: Pass Notes 518, Tiggy Legge-Bourke'' in '' The Guardian'' (London, England) dated 8 November 1994, p. 3. and the Institut Alpin Videmanette at Rougemont in Switzerland, a

finishing school A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...

also attended by

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

. She has a sister and a brother, Zara and Harry. In 1985 Zara (b. 1966) married Captain

Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (born 29 January 1958) is a British Conservative politician, journalist and landowner, serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dorset since 2010. Early life Drax was born on 29 January 195 ...

, known as Richard Drax: Princess Anne's daughter Zara was a bridesmaid. The marriage ended in divorce in 1997. They had two daughters. She married for a second time in 2003 (as his 2nd wife) Angus Gordon Lennox, of the

dukes of Richmond Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families. The current dukedom of Richmond was created in 1675 for Charles ...

, and now lives at

Gordon Castle Gordon Castle is located near Fochabers in Moray, Scotland. Historically known as the Bog-of-Gight or Bog o'Gight, it was the principal seat of the dukes of Gordon. Following 18th-century redevelopment, it became one of the largest country hous ...

. (Her first husband Richard Drax, now an MP, remarried twice and has had two more children.) Legge-Bourke's brother Harry, born in 1972, was a Page of Honour to

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

between 1985 and 1987 and became an officer in the Welsh Guards. He married Iona Maclean in 2000, and had one son (Lachlan or Lochy, b. 2003, now a Page of Honour like his father, grand-uncle and great-grandfather) and one daughter. Lachlan was part of the Queen's entourage at the 2016

State Opening of Parliament The State Opening of Parliament is a ceremonial event which formally marks the beginning of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It includes a speech from the throne known as the King's (or Queen's) Speech. The event takes place ...

. In 1966, Legge-Bourke's grandmother Margaret Glenusk, widowed in 1948, married secondly William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle VC KG, who had been

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Montessori Centre in London. She then taught for a year in

Balham Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...

before leaving to set up her own nursery school in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

, called Mrs Tiggywinkle's. In 1993, shortly after Charles, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales had separated, Charles hired Legge-Bourke as nanny to their two sons. As the royal nanny, she soon began to make headlines. Early controversy came when she said scornfully of the Princess of Wales's attitude towards her sons: "I give them what they need at this stage, fresh air, a rifle and a horse. She gives them a tennis racket and a bucket of popcorn at the movies". It was also considered to be a gaffe when Legge-Bourke referred to William and Harry as "my babies". She often went with the princes on holidays.Tiggy enjoys a right royal wedding
dated 16 October 1999, online at bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2008. A heavy smoker, she was said to be able to smoke even while skiing, and was criticized by Diana for smoking near her sons. In 1996, at the age of thirteen, Prince William, avoiding a difficult choice, asked both of his parents not to attend

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

's Fourth of June celebrations, the high point of the school's year. However, they were both reported to be taken aback when he invited Legge-Bourke to attend in their place. Early in 1997, she resigned, but she returned to the royal household only a few months later. On 18 July 1997, while out of Charles's service, she attended the fiftieth-birthday party he threw for

Camilla Parker Bowles Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the acc ...

in Gloucestershire. She helped to comfort the princes after their mother's death in a road accident in Paris on 31 August 1997.New Year's Honours for Wales
at bbc.co.uk, dated 30 December 2000. Retrieved 31 January 2008. There was anger in 1998 when Legge-Bourke allowed the young princes to abseil down the fifty-metre dam of Grwyne Fawr Reservoir in Wales without safety lines or helmets. Staff at

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...

mounted an inquiry, and Legge-Bourke was reported to have been saved only by the princes' adoration of her. The press predicted time and again that Legge-Bourke was about to be sacked, but this never happened. She finally retired from the Prince of Wales's service when she married in October 1999.

Allegations by the Princess of Wales

On 9 December 1992, prime minister

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

announced in the House of Commons that Charles, Prince of Wales and

, were to separate but had no plans to divorce. At the time, Diana was convinced that Charles loved only

. Lady Colin Campbell, ''The Real Diana'' (2005). As early as October 1993, Diana was writing to Paul Burrell that she believed her husband was now in love with Legge-Bourke and wanted to marry her. On 3 December 1993, Diana announced that she had decided to withdraw from public life.Timeline: Diana, Princess of Wales
online at BBC News 24 web site. Retrieved 30 January 2008. Legge-Bourke later admitted having had a "schoolgirl crush" on Charles, who had been a frequent visitor to her family's estate. Diana's biographer, Lady Colin Campbell, commented that "Charles is only interested in her as an uncle is interested in a younger niece." On 20 November 1995, a television interview with the Princess of Wales by Martin Bashir was broadcast by the BBC. There was no mention of Legge-Bourke. However, on 24 January 1996, newspapers named Diana as the source of an untrue rumour circulated in November and December 1995 that Legge-Bourke had become pregnant by Charles and had had an abortion. The rumours were apparently spread by Bashir as a means to gain an interview with the princess. It was reported that words had been exchanged between Diana and Legge-Bourke on the matter at a party on 14 December 1995, when Diana had said to her "So sorry about the baby", and an "informed source" was quoted as saying "The Queen was absolutely furious and totally in sympathy with Tiggy." On 18 December 1995, Legge-Bourke, with the Queen's agreement, instructed the libel lawyer Peter Carter-Ruck to write to Diana's solicitors demanding an apology, asking that the accusation be "recognised to be totally untrue". On 22 January 1996, shortly before the story of the unfounded abortion allegation was published, Diana's private secretary

Patrick Jephson Patrick Jephson is an Irish-born British-American journalist, television presenter, and author who was previously the private secretary and equerry to Diana, Princess of Wales. Biography Jephson was born and raised in Ireland. He was awarded a m ...

resigned, as did his assistant Nicole Cockell the next day. Jephson later wrote that Diana had "exulted in accusing Legge-Bourke of having had an abortion". Jealous of her sons' affection for the woman who cared for them, Diana became more hostile towards Legge-Bourke, asking that she leave the room while Diana was talking to her sons on the telephone. In February 1996, newspapers published a letter from Diana to Charles in which she asked that "Miss Legge-Bourke not spend unnecessary time in the children's rooms... read to them at night, nor supervise their bathtime." Charles and Diana's divorce was made absolute on 28 August 1996. One year later, Diana died in a road accident in Paris on 31 August 1997. Much later, Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington headed

Operation Paget Operation Paget was the British Metropolitan Police inquiry established in 2004 to investigate the conspiracy theories about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris in 1997. The inquiry's first report with the findings of t ...

, an inquiry into the accident which reported its findings on 14 December 2006. According to the report, Diana feared that both she and Camilla Parker Bowles were the victims of a plot intended to make it possible for the Prince of Wales to marry a third woman.Operation Paget Report
at the web site of the

Metropolitan Police Service The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. Retrieved 30 January 2008. As journalists digested Lord Stevens's report, they looked with a fresh eye at the conspiracy theories the report had demolished and tried to construct another out of Charles's supposed love for Legge-Bourke. The story resurfaced again when the British

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

into the deaths of Diana and Dodi Fayed began at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on 2 October 2007, headed by

Lord Justice Scott Baker Sir Thomas Scott Gillespie Baker, PC, KC (born 10 December 1937) is a retired English Court of Appeal judge. Scott Baker is the eldest son of Sir George Baker, a former High Court judge who was President of the Family Division from 1971 t ...

sitting as a

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

. On 6 October 2007, the judge was reported as telling the court that in the evidence of Lord Mishcon, Diana's

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

, Diana had told him that "Camilla was not really Charles's lover, but a decoy for his real favourite, the nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke". In December 2007, witnesses at the inquest were questioned about a letter to Paul Burrell from the Princess dating from October 1993, of which only redacted versions had previously been public. In this letter, the Princess of Wales had written: On 7 January 2008, Diana's friend Rodney Turner, giving evidence to the inquest, described his shock at seeing the contents of Diana's letter to Burrell,Diana affair over before crash, inquest told
by Rosalind Ryan in ''The Guardian'' online, article dated 7 January 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2008. but on 15 January 2008, Maggie Rea, a lawyer in the firm headed by Lord Mishcon (who died in January 2006), gave evidence to the inquest about Diana's fears to much the same effect as the letter, based on a note Mishcon had left on his file and on a meeting Rea and a colleague had had with Mishcon in October 1995. In what is called 'the Mishcon note', which dates from 1995, Diana forecast that in 1996 the Queen would abdicate, the Prince of Wales would discard Parker Bowles in favour of Legge-Bourke, and that she would herself die in a planned road crash.Former Met chief 'was a party to Diana's murder by keeping death prophecy secret
by Alan Hamilton in ''The Times'' online, article dated 18 January 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2008. Before he died, Mishcon copied the note to the Metropolitan Police, who took no action on it. On 7 October 2007, the journalist Jasper Gerard mocked the 'conspiracy theorists' promoting ever-stranger notions of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales: In September 2021, Legge-Bourke was offered significant damages by the BBC after an investigation into how the 1995 interview was obtained and amid reports that Martin Bashir himself had provided Diana with a faked abortion "receipt" which led Diana to believe that Legge-Bourke had become pregnant following an affair with Prince Charles. On 21 July 2022, the BBC in a High Court public apology to Legge-Bourke, in London, stated, "The BBC accepts that the allegations made against the claimant were wholly baseless, should never have been made, and that the BBC did not, at the time, adequately investigate serious concerns over the circumstances in which the BBC secured the ''Panorama'' interview with Diana, Princess of Wales." The BBC will pay substantial damages and legal costs to the claimant.

Marriage and children

In October 1999 she married Charles Pettifer, a former Coldstream Guards officer, with two sons from a previous marriage, commenting to the press "He is magic". She pointedly did not invite Camilla Parker Bowles to her wedding, apparently as Camilla had been an adversary, and had once referred to Legge-Bourke as "the hired help". Princes William and Harry attended the wedding, but Charles said he had a prior engagement. Legge-Bourke and Pettifer had a brief romance while they were teenagers at school in the 1980s (she at Heathfield, he at

). They stayed friends while he was married to Camilla Wyatt, and Legge-Bourke was godmother to one of their sons. Until May 1997, Pettifer was company secretary and a director of Unique Security Consultants Ltd., providing former

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

officers as bodyguards. He then became chief executive of Rapport Research and Analysis Ltd, supplying companies with former SAS officers for protection work. In recent years, Pettifer has developed a farmhouse bed and breakfast business at Ty'r Chanter, near Crickhowell on the Glanusk estate, billed as 'The Tiggy Experience'. In April 2006, she attended the Sovereign's Parade at Sandhurst for Prince Harry's passing out as an officer of the Blues and Royals. In November 2006, the Prince of Wales was reported to be a regular visitor to Pettifer and her family in Powys. Tiggy and Charles Pettifer were two of the one hundred and fifty guests invited to Camilla's sixtieth birthday party on 21 July 2007. Tiggy Pettifer also attended the service of thanksgiving for the sixtieth anniversary of the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II and the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

at Westminster Abbey on 19 November 2007.

Honours

Pettifer was appointed Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in the

2001 New Year Honours The 2001 New Year Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British honours system, where New Year's Day, 1 January, is marked in several Commonwealth countries by appointing new members of orders of chivalry and recipient ...

Ancestry

;Sources for family tree: *''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'' (107th edition, 2004) * ''Who's Who'' and ''Who Was Who''
thepeerage.com
*Ruvigny & Raineval, Marquis of, '' The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Anne of Exeter Volume'' (London: T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1907) p. 543
Memorial Fountain, Crickhowell
at web site of Public Monument and Sculpture Association's National Recording Project *''Lucas, Sir Charles Prestwood (1853–1931)'' in '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Descendants of Henry VIII, King of England
at worldroots.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legge-Bourke, Tiggy 1965 births Living people Members of the Royal Victorian Order People from Powys People educated at Heathfield School, Ascot Governesses to the British Royal Household Nannies