Prince William joins mourners at Thomas Kingston’s funeral: wife Lady Gabriella Windsor and her parents, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, attend a private service at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace following his sudden death at 45 age

Thomas Kingston was given a royal farewell today at a funeral attended by Prince William and other members of the royal family.

The body of the financier, who was found dead last month aged 45, was carried in a procession that started at Kensington Palace, the childhood home of his widow, Lady Gabriella Windsor.

The procession ended at Ambassador’s Court at St James’s Palace. A private family funeral was then held at the Chapel Royal, where many royal weddings have taken place, including that of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840.

More recently, Prince George, the eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, was baptized there in 2013. And while William was present, Kate stayed home and continued to recover from abdominal surgery she underwent in January.

Lady Gabriella was accompanied at the funeral by her parents, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, her brother, Lord Frederick Windsor and his wife, the actress Sophie Winkleman.

The Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra were also present in the gathering of 140 people.

The King – Lady Gabriella’s second cousin – and the Queen were not present.

Charles is not attending public events while he undergoes treatment for cancer, and the Queen hosted a WOW (Women of the World) reception at Buckingham Palace.

Mr Kingston’s body was later cremated.

Mr Kingston and Lady Gabriella, known as Ella, married in 2019 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in a ceremony attended by Prince Michael’s cousin Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

They lived in London, but he was visiting his parents at their home in the Cotswolds when he died.

A coroner’s court was told: ‘His father went to walk the dogs. On his return, Mr. Kingston was not in the house. After about 30 minutes his mother went looking for him.”

Katy Skerrett, Gloucestershire’s senior coroner, added: ‘His father forced entry into a locked outbuilding. Mr Kingston was found inside with catastrophic head injuries. A firearm was present at the scene. The police are confident that the death is not suspicious.”

The coroner said a post-mortem examination had been carried out and the preliminary cause of death had been determined as a traumatic wound to the head. She formally opened and suspended the inquest into the death.

Announcing his death last month, Buckingham Palace described Kingston, a financier, as a “much-loved member of the family” who was mourned by King Charles and Queen Camilla. A friend of the couple says: ‘They remained childless, but were happily married until the end.’

After studying economic history at the University of Bristol, Kingston joined the Foreign Office’s Diplomatic Missions Unit in Iraq, where he worked as a project officer for the Iraqi Institute of Peace from 2003 to 2006.

Last month, Lady Gabriella paid tribute to her husband in a joint statement with his family, describing him as an ‘exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him’ – and calling his death a ‘great shock to the whole family’ . .

She released a personal photo she took of her husband, which showed him smiling and wearing a casual pink shirt as he stood by a stretch of water in the sun.

The couple married in 2019 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, with Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh, among the guests.

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.

He was a close friend of Pippa Matthews, sister of the Princess of Wales, and the pair are said to have dated in 2011.

Lady Gabriella, who has worked as art and travel director for a branding company, is a writer and editor.

She is also a singer-songwriter and released two bossa nova-inspired songs in 2020 to raise money for charity.

Lady Gabrielle and her husband were last pictured together in public on Valentine’s Day at an event celebrating the works of William Shakespeare.

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