• Prince William mourns the loss of a close friend on Twitter.
• Mark Jenkins and son died in a plane crash in Kenya.
• Two were flying a plane for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

Prince William is hurting over the loss of a close friend.

The Prince of Wales, who is 40 years old, made a rare personal remark on Twitter on Friday. He did so in response to the tragic death of his friend Mark Jenkins and Jenkins’s son in a plane crash in Kenya earlier this week.

“Yesterday, I lost a friend, who dedicated his life to protecting wildlife in some of East Africa’s most renowned national parks. Mark Jenkins, and his son Peter, were tragically killed when flying over Tsavo National Park while conducting an aerial patrol,” William began a two-part post from his Prince of Wales account.

“Tonight, I’m thinking about Mark’s wife, family and colleagues who’ve sadly lost a man we all loved and admired,” he added, signing off “W.”

It is common practice for William and Kate Middleton, who he is married to, to sign off their personal social media posts with their initials. Prince William did in fact meet and become friends with actor Richard Jenkins during the gap year he took after graduating from Eton College in 2000. Jenkins followed Prince William’s work with the African wildlife conservation charity Tusk after he became associated with the organization in 2005. Jenkins’s involvement with the charity began in 2005.

An obituary that was published by the Frankfurt Zoological Society states that Mark and Peter were flying a plane for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust when it crashed while they were on a mission for the organization. Mark has been an environmentalist his entire life and is an experienced bush pilot. He has worked in the past with the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Frankfurt Zoological Society.

Yesterday, I lost a friend, who dedicated his life to protecting wildlife in some of East Africa’s most renowned national parks. Mark Jenkins, and his son Peter, were tragically killed when flying over Tsavo National Park while conducting an aerial patrol.

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) December 9, 2022

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