Thomas Kingston, the husband of Prince Michael of Kent’s daughter Lady Gabriella Windsor and the ex-boyfriend of Pippa Middleton, died from a “traumatic head wound” and a gun was found close to his body, an inquest was told Friday.
The 45-year-old financier, whose shocking death was announced by Buckingham Palace, was found dead Sunday at an outbuilding at his parents’ country mansion in the scenic Cotswolds region of southwest England, the hearing at Gloucestershire Coroner’s Court heard. British authorities had previously said that police and paramedics were called to the scene just before 6:30 p.m., and his death was not being treated as suspicious.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla sent their “most heartfelt thoughts and prayers” to Kingston’s loved ones in the wake of his death. Lady Gabriella, in a joint statement with his family, said Kingston was an “exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him” and said his passing had come as “great shock to the whole family.”
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Senior coroner Katy Skerrett said at the inquest that Kingston had been visiting his parents’ home on Sunday where they ate lunch together. Afterward, his father took his dogs out for a walk and then came home to find that Kingston was not in the house, according to The Independent.
His mother also joined the search to find him. During the search, Kingston’s father forced his way into an outbuilding that had been locked. “He found Mr. Kingston deceased with a catastrophic head injury,” Skerrett said. “A gun was present at the scene.”
She added that the post-mortem had listed a provisional cause of death as a “traumatic wound” to the head.
Kingston, a financier, married Lady Gabriella—a second cousin of King Charles—in 2019 in a ceremony at Windsor Castle attended by the likes of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Harry. He’d earlier dated the Princess of Wales’ younger sister in 2011, according to Tatler, and remained close with the Middleton family. Both Kingston and Lady Gabriella had attended Pippa Middleton’s wedding to James Matthews in 2017.
Before working in finance, Kingston had worked as a hostage negotiator in Iraq, according to The Telegraph. He’d been in Baghdad as a project manager for the International Centre for Reconciliation, a religious-based organization that worked on resolving conflict.
Reverend Canon Andrew White, who led the only Anglican church in Iraq, said Kingston was “one of the most remarkable people I have ever worked with” and said they’d “survived some close scrapes,” including a 2004 bombing.
“Tom worked with me in Iraq through the worst of the Iraq War,” White said after Kingston’s death. “He was a great man of deep faith and wisdom. I know for sure he is now in glory.”
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