Husband of Lady Gabriella took own life, inquest hears

Lady Gabriella Kingston’s husband took his own life after suffering an adverse reaction to an antidepressant medication prescribed by his doctor, a coroner has ruled.

- TARA COBHAM

Thomas Kingston, who married the daughter of the Prince and Princess Michael of Kent at Windsor Castle in 2019, died from a head injury and a gun was found near his body on 25 February at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds.

At an inquest into his death held at Gloucestershire Coroner’s Court yesterday, Lady Gabriella, 43, called for people to be warned about the effects of medications used to treat mental health conditions or she feared more people could die.

The inquest was told that Kingston, 45, a financier, had initially been given sertraline, a drug used to treat depression, and zopiclone, a sleeping tablet, by a GP at the Royal Mews Surgery, a practice at Buckingham Palace used by royal household staff, after complaining of trouble sleeping following stress at work.

Kingston returned to the surgery saying they were not making him feel better, and his doctor moved him from sertraline to citalopram, a similar drug.

In the days leading up to his death, Kingston had stopped taking medication, and toxicology tests showed caffeine and small amounts of zopiclone in his system.

In a statement read out by Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, Lady Gabriella said: “[Work] was certainly a challenge for him over the years but I highly doubt it would have led him to take his own life, and it seemed much improved.

“If anything had been troubling him, I’m positive that he would have shared that he was struggling severely.

“The fact that he took his life at the home of his beloved parents suggests the decision was the result of a sudden impulse.”