Lady Gabriella says her husband Thomas made a ‘sudden impulse’ decision to ‘take his life in the home of his beloved parents’ after suffering the ill effects of prescription drugs

The daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Lady Gabriella Kingston, has said her husband died after taking a ‘sudden impulse’ to commit suicide after having an adverse reaction to prescription medication.

Thomas Kingston, 45, died of a gunshot wound to the head at the home of his beloved parents in the Cotswolds on February 25.

The financier married Lady Gabriella in 2019 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, with the Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, among the guests.

At an inquest into his death held at the coroner’s office in Gloucestershire on Tuesday, Lady Gabriella, 43, said people need to be warned about the effects of drugs used to treat mental illness or more people could die.

He had initially been given Sertraline – an antidepressant – and Zopiclone, a sleeping tablet, by a GP at the Royal Mews Surgery – a practice used by royal household staff – after complaining of sleep problems due to stress at work.

In a statement read out at the inquest by senior coroner Katy Skerrett, Lady Gabriella said: ‘(Work) was certainly a challenge for him over the years but I seriously doubt it would have led him to take his own life, and it seemed way too heavy. improved.

‘If something was bothering him, I’m sure he would have told me he was seriously struggling. The fact that he committed suicide in the home of his beloved parents suggests that the decision was the result of a sudden impulse.’

She said she believed his death was “likely provoked” by an adverse reaction to the medication he had started and then stopped taking in the weeks leading up to his death.

Thomas Kingston (left) died of head injuries caused by a gunshot wound, a coroner has found

Mr Kingston (pictured), the husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor, took his own life after adversely affecting prescription drugs, an inquest has heard

Mr Kingston watched the race from the Royal Box at Ascot with Queen Camilla in June 2023

Mr. Kingston complained that the medication was not making him feel better and his doctor switched him from Sertraline to Citalopram, another selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) used as an antidepressant.

“In the absence of any evidence of propensity, it seems very likely to me that he had an adverse reaction to the pills that caused him to take his own life,” Lady Gabriella said.

‘I believe that anyone taking these types of pills should be made more aware of the side effects to prevent future deaths.

“If this could happen to Tom, this could happen to anyone.”

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

In his final weeks, Lady Gabriella said, her husband had “seemed normal”, except early in the day after he had previously taken zopiclone, which she said made him appear “almost hungover”.

In her statement, she described their marriage as “deeply loving and trusting” and said he had never expressed suicidal thoughts to her or others.

She added that he was deeply affected by the suicide of a friend and the “devastating impact it had on other people’s loved ones.”

Lady Gabriella wept as she sat in the coroner’s court as her statement was read out.

The couple are pictured here at the Wimbledon tennis championships in July 2019

Lady Gabriella and Thomas Kingston had official photos taken on their wedding day – here with the late Queen and Prince Philip to their right

Thomas Kingston and Lady Gabriella Kingston were on the second day of the Wimbledon tennis championships last year

Mr Kingston’s father, William Martin Kingston, broke down in tears as he described finding his son in the locked bathroom of a detached outbuilding after using a crowbar to break open the door.

He told the court that his son had always had a strong, resilient character, having previously suffered from a pain disorder that required him to get help from standing.

Mr Kingston added that there did not appear to have been any search for suicide in the run-up to his son’s death, and that no will or note was left, describing the method as ‘very shabby’ and simply ‘ beyond the earth’.

Ms Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, gave a narrative conclusion: ‘Mr Kingston took his own life with a shotgun causing a serious traumatic wound to the head.

‘The evidence from his wife, family and business partner all supports his lack of suicidal intent. He was suffering from the side effects of medications that had recently been prescribed to him.”

Dr. David Healy, a psychiatric medical expert who gave evidence at the hearing, said zopiclone can also cause anxiety, while sertraline and citalopram are both selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and are essentially the same.

Dr. Healy said Mr Kingston’s complaints that sertraline continued to make him anxious were a sign that SSRIs were ‘not right for him’, and that he should not have been prescribed the same thing again.

He said the guidelines and labels for SSRIs weren’t clear enough about how to use the drugs in the first place, or what the effect might be if you switched from one to the other.

“We need a much more explicit statement saying that these drugs can cause people to commit suicide who otherwise would not have done so,” he said.

Martin Porter, counsel for the family, told the coroner: ‘The family does not blame (his GP) Dr Naunton Morgan, she behaved as good doctors do.

‘But the question is whether there is enough advice for doctors about SSRIs.’

Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Lady Gabriella Windsor and Thomas Kingston watch the race from the Royal Box as they attend Day 5 of Royal Ascot 2023

Lady Gabriella paid tribute to her husband in a joint statement with his family after his death, describing him as an ‘exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him’.

They described his death as a ‘big shock for the whole family’.

The King and Queen sent their “most sincere thoughts and prayers” to Lady Gabriella, known as Ella, and Mr Kingston’s parents and siblings.

Mr Kingston was buried in a private service on March 12.

About 140 close friends and family, including Prince William, Lady Gabriella’s parents, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and Princess Alexandra, gathered at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace in London for the funeral.

Lady Gabriella is the king’s second cousin. They are both great-grandchildren of King George V.

Mr Kingston was a director of Devonport Capital, which specialized in providing financing to companies in frontier economies.

The University of Bristol graduate had also worked in Baghdad, Iraq, to ​​secure the release of hostages after joining the Foreign Office’s diplomatic missions unit.

At the opening of the inquest in March, Gloucestershire senior coroner Katy Skerrett said Mr Kingston’s body was found in an outbuilding at his parents’ home.

The coroner said Mr Kingston had visited his parents and his father had gone for a walk with the dogs after lunch.

“On his return, Mr. Kingston was not in the house,” she said, “and after about 30 minutes his mother went looking for him.

“His father forced a locked outhouse, but there was no response.”

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