02-06-2025
Former royal aide to King Charles and Princess Diana who enjoyed flourishing military career dies aged 91
A FORMER aide to King Charles and Princess Diana has passed away aged 91.
Major General Sir Christopher Airy only managed a year in the role as the royal couple' s marriage collapsed.
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The former Grenadier Guards officer had previously commanded the Army's Household Division.
He had even lined the route at the late Queen's coronation in 1953.
Sir Christopher retired from the Army in 1989, and he was hired as a private secretary to Charles and Diana in 1990.
He succeeded Sir John Riddell, who filled the role for just under four years.
However the former aide was driven up the wall by the tension in the royal household caused by Charles and Diana's marriage problems.
He reportedly got into hot water with the future King after telling him it was his "duty" to attend state occasions.
The then-prince is said to have "stiffened" and "there was a perceptible intake of breath around the table" before he replied "oh is it?" sarcastically.
Charles and Diana announced their separation in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
A year later, the beloved Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash in Paris - sending shockwaves throughout the nation.
How Charles and Diana's marriage unravelled from first day of their honeymoon – thanks to a pair of cufflinks
By Oliver Harvey
WHEN a 16-year- old Diana met bachelor Prince Charles at a shooting weekend at her family's Althorp estate, she was hardly bowled over.
'What a sad man,' was her initial reaction, recounted in her later taped reminiscences.
Charles, then 29, was dating Diana's sister Sarah as he desperately sought a bride and heir to the throne.
Lady Sarah Spencer seemed no more impressed, telling reporters at the time she would not marry Charles, 'If he were the dustman or the King of England '.
Charles was furious when he saw the resulting articles and told Sarah: 'You have just done something incredibly stupid.'
Unsurprisingly, the relationship fizzled out soon afterwards.
Yet, something about Diana — a pretty but in her own estimation 'podgy' teen — clearly intrigued Charles.
Telling author Andrew Morton the story of that first meeting, Diana said: 'My sister Sarah was all over him like a bad rash, and I thought, 'God, he must really hate that'.
'I kept out of the way. I remember being a fat, podgy, no make-up, unsmart lady but I made a lot of noise, and he liked that.'
Sir Christopher had left his role in May 1991, and moved to a farmhouse in Somerset with his wife.
It was there he spent the rest of his life. He died on April 8 but his passing was only recently announced.
He was born in Woolwich in 1934 and was the second son of Colonel Eustace Airy.
Sir Christopher attended Marlborough College, Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne, then Sandhurst.
In his later years he spent his time on charity work, especially The Not Forgotten, which supports veterans and serving personnel living with injury, illness or isolation.
His wife Judith died in January of this year. The couple left behind a son and two daughters.
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