Prince Edward in trouble over death comment
- 00:01:43
- ITN
Prince Edward in trouble over death comment
Prince Edward is in trouble after suggesting teenagers find the "risk of death" exciting when they take part in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. The Earl of Wessex was speaking in Australia after being asked about a Sydney teenager who died on a trip to the Blue Mountains three years ago. Edward remarked that interest in the scheme jumped after the death of another teenager in Britain years ago. He told The Australian newspaper: "Suddenly the award, which was new...(its) reputation among young people was, 'Wow, this is serious. You could die doing this'. "And the sense of adventure, the sense of excitement, that it gave you that sort of risk element - young people are like that still, that sense of adventure, the sense that it (death) is possible. "Obviously we don't want that to happen. Certainly it's not our intention: we give them the skills to go out there and do it safely and constructively. It was just that psychology, about what makes young people tick." The scheme was set up in 1956 and offers bronze, silver and gold awards to young people who take on a series of increasingly challenging tasks.
ITN | October 30, 2009
