Thomas Kingston, the husband of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’s daughter, Lady Gabriella Kingston, died from a “traumatic head wound” and a gun was found near his body, an inquest has heard.
Kingston, who married the king’s second cousin in 2019, was found dead in an outbuilding at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds last week, the inquest was told as it opened at Gloucestershire coroner’s court on Friday.
“I have received evidence of the brief circumstances surrounding this tragic incident also in written format, which complies with rule 23 of the Coroners Rules 2013,” the senior coroner Katy Skerrett said.
“These brief circumstances are as follows: Mr Kingston was visiting his parents’ home in the Cotswolds. On 25 February 2024 he ate lunch with his parents. His father went out to walk the dogs. On his return, Mr Kingston was not in the house, and after approximately 30 minutes his mother went to look for him. His father forced entry on a locked outbuilding when no reply could be gained.
“He found Mr Kingston deceased with a catastrophic head injury. A gun was present at the scene. Emergency services were called. Police are satisfied the death is not suspicious. A postmortem has been undertaken by Dr Jones, a consultant histopathologist, and a provisional cause of death has been given as a traumatic wound to head.”
The coroner said she was satisfied with identification, initial cause of death and the brief circumstances surrounding Kingston’s death, and adjourned proceedings to a date yet to be fixed.
Kingston, a financier, married Gabriella at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle in 2019 with Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, among the guests. Prince Michael is the late queen’s cousin.
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”. They described his death as a “great shock to the whole family”.
The king and queen sent their “most heartfelt thoughts and prayers” to Gabriella, who is known as Ella, and Kingston’s parents and siblings.
A statement released on behalf of Gabriella, Martin and Jill Kingston, Joanna Connolly and Emma Murray, said: “Tom was an exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him. His death has come as a great shock to the whole family and we ask you to respect our privacy as we mourn his passing.”
Gabriella released a personal photo she took of her husband, showing him smiling and dressed in a casual pink shirt as he stood near a stretch of water in the sunshine.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “The king and the queen have been informed of Thomas’s death and join Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and all those who knew him in grieving a much-loved member of the family.
“In particular, their majesties send their most heartfelt thoughts and prayers to Gabriella and to all the Kingston family.”
Gabriella and the king are both great-grandchildren of King George V.
Kingston was a director of Devonport Capital, which provides finance for companies in “frontier economies”.
The University of Bristol graduate had also worked in Baghdad, Iraq, to procure the release of hostages after joining the diplomatic missions unit of the Foreign Office. He was a close friend of Pippa Matthews, the Princess of Wales’s sister, and the pair were said to have dated in 2011.
Gabriella, who has worked as an arts and travel director for a brand company, is a writer and contributing editor. She is also a singer-songwriter and released two bossa nova-inspired tracks in 2020 to raise money for charity.
Although she is not a working member of the royal family, she and Kingston’s family are being supported by the royal household. No funeral plans have been released.