Charles, Count de Westenholz

Of Austrian heritage, Charles Westenholz and his brother Piers both competed in the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics. Their sister Antoinette was also a proficient skier, while Charles´ wife, Lady Mary Kerr (daughter of the 12th Marquess of Lothian), represented Scotland and Great Britain as a skier. She was also a popular folk singer.

Charles enjoyed more success on the piste than his older brother and was winning major titles from the age of 13 when he won the downhill section of the 1959 Junior Kandahar Cup. The previous year he had been second to John Rigby in the British Junior Championships, with Piers in third place. Charles won the British junior title in 1961.

Charles finished third in the senior British Slalom Championship in 1962 when still only 17 and that same year the siblings were in the England team that won gold in the slalom team competition at the Commonwealth Winter Games. The following year Charles was the national giant slalom champion and, at the Lowlanders Championships, won the slalom and overall titles. Charles took part in all three disciplines at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics.

Between 1966-68, while serving with the Royal Scots Greys, Charles won the overall Army skiing title three years in succession and was the Combined Services champion in 1968. A banker by profession, Charles, Count de Westenholz was killed in a skiing accident in France and was buried on 17 March 2006, his 61st birthday.