SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - The youngest son of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Edward, sparked controversy Friday with claims that young people were drawn to his outdoor adventure scheme by the thrill of death.

Edward is the chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, a program which encourages 14 to 25-year-olds to undertake a range of activities including trekking, rafting, horse riding and volunteer work.

Australian teenager David Iredale died in the unforgiving wilderness of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales at the height of summer in 2006 on a training camp for the scheme, collapsing after he became lost and ran out of water.

The prince was slammed as crass and insensitive when he responded to questions about the 17-year-old's death with boasts about how the thrill of death was what had always attracted people to the scheme.

"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, that sense that (death) is possible," Edward told The Australian newspaper.

"Obviously we don't want that to happen, certainly it's not our intention ... It was just that psychology about what makes young people tick."

The comments drew criticism from the British press, with the Independent labelling it "another royal blunder Down Under" likened to a gaffe made by Edward's father, Prince Philip, about Aborigines "throwing spears" seven years ago.

A woman whose son was presented with the Gold Duke of Edinburgh award this week told The Australian the comments were "excessive" and accused Edward, the Earl of Wessex, of getting "a bit excited".

Iredale's mother declined to comment on the remarks but said the scheme had serious shortcomings.

British teenager Jamie Neale miraculously survived 12 freezing nights in July lost in the same wilderness where Iredale perished, by eating seeds and weeds and sleeping under his jacket.