The parachutist who escorted a fictional Queen Elizabeth to the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics is dead after an aerial diving accident.

Mark Sutton, the 42-year old former Royal Ghurkha Rifles (RGR) officer, was wing-diving near the French border in the Swiss Alps when he jumped from a helicopter and crashed into a mountain ridge.

Mark Sutton
YouTube
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He was wearing a wingsuit, described as a jumpsuit with wings that allows the diver to glide, when he and a friend were over Grandes-Otannes. Although wing-divers usually end their jumps with parachutes, it is not known whether Sutton used one during this particular jump.

Friend Gary Connery, who played the part of Queen Elizabeth at the Olympics, has a video on Sutton's YouTube account, that shows the 'World's First Ever Wingsuit Landing Without a Parachute.'

 

Mark Sutton, YouTube
Mark Sutton, YouTube
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Mark Sutton, YouTube
Mark Sutton, YouTube
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Gary Connery flight by Mark Sutton
YouTube
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Sutton was an avid wing-diver who used his YouTube account to chronicle many of his adventures, like the one below:

One of his videos, entitled 'Wingsuit Proximity Flights,' begins with the Avril Lavigne song 'How Does it Feel.' One cannot help but pay careful attention to the lyrics: "I'm not afraid of anything.  I just need to know that I can breathe...I am small and the world is big; all around me is fast-moving..." It appears clear that Sutton died doing what he loved.

Police in Switzerland are still investigating the accident.

Mark Sutton
YouTube
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Mark Sutton
YouTube
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