A warning has been issued about the antidepressants Prince was taking. The son-in-law of Princess Michael of Kent has decided to take his own life after a ‘sudden impulse’.
An investigation revealed that Thomas Windsor, 45, the husband of Gabriella Windsor, had suffered side effects from prescribed medication.
Died from a gunshot wound to the head at his parents’ home In the Cotswolds on February 25 this year.
The financier married Lady Gabriella at St George’s Chapel. Windsor CastleIn 2019, the Duke of Edinburgh was among the guests along with the Queen and her husband.
Now Ms Gabriela, 43, has spoken at Gloucestershire Coroner’s Court about how people should be warned about the effects of drugs used to treat mental health conditions. Otherwise, more people may die.
And coroner Martin Porter raised concerns about whether doctors had been given ‘sufficient advice’ about distributing antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), with medical staff also raising concerns at the hearing.
Lady Gabriella’s husband was initially given the antidepressant sertraline and sleeping pill zopiclone by his GP at the Royal Mews Surgery, a practice used by royal staff, after complaining of trouble sleeping due to stress at work.
In a statement read out at the inquest by Chief Coroner Katy Skerrett, Mrs Gabriella said: Improvements have been made.
Thomas Kingston and Lady Gabriella Kingston are pictured courtside on the second day of last year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
Lady Gabriella Windsor’s husband, Mr Kingston (pictured), took his life due to side effects from prescribed medication.
Coroners and medical practitioners have raised concerns about the side effects of antidepressants such as Sertraline.
‘If anything was bothering him, I’m sure he would have shared that he was seriously struggling. The fact that he took his life in the home of his beloved parents suggests that it was a decision made on a sudden impulse.’
She said she believed his death was ‘likely triggered’ by an adverse reaction to the medication he had started taking, which he had stopped taking several weeks before his death.
Mr. Kingston complained that the medication did not make him feel better, and his doctor moved him from Sertraline to Citalopram, another selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) used as an antidepressant.
“There is no evidence to prove intent, so it is very likely that he had an adverse reaction to the medication that led to his life,” Ms Gabriela said.
‘I think people taking medications like this need to be more aware of the side effects to prevent future deaths.
‘If this can happen to Tom, it can happen to anyone.’
Psychiatry expert Dr David Healy, who gave evidence at the hearing, said that while zopiclone can also cause anxiety, 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 for him’ and he should not be re-prescribed the same medication.
Thomas Kingston, left, died from head injuries from a gunshot wound, the medical examiner said.
Mr Kingston watched the race with Queen Camilla from the Royal Box at Ascot in June 2023.
He said the instructions and labels for SSRIs aren’t clear enough about taking the medication in the first place or what effects switching from one drug to another may have.
“We need a much clearer statement that these drugs can cause suicide in people who don’t,” he said.
Addressing the coroner, Martin Porter, defending the family, said: ‘The family does not blame (his GP) Dr Naunton Morgan. She acted like a good doctor.
‘But the question is whether there is enough advice to doctors about SSRIs.’
Mr Kingston had stopped taking drugs in the days before his death and toxicology tests showed he had caffeine and small amounts of zopiclone in his system.
Mrs Gabriella said her husband ‘looked normal’ during his final weeks, except for early mornings after taking zopiclone. She said her husband looked ‘almost hungover’.
In a statement, she described their marriage as ‘deeply loving and trusting’ and said her husband had never expressed suicidal thoughts to her or anyone else.
She added that he had been deeply affected by his friend’s suicide and the ‘devastating impact others had on their loved ones’.
The couple was photographed at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in July 2019.
Official photos were taken of Lady Gabriella and Thomas Kingston on their wedding day. Here the late Queen and Prince Philip sat to their right.
Mr Kingston’s father, William Martin Kingston, wept as he described finding his son in the locked bathroom of an outbuilding using a crowbar to break down the door.
He told the court his son had always had a strong and resilient character and had previously suffered from a painful condition that required assistance to climb stairs.
Mr Kingston added that there appears to have been no search for suicide leading up to his son’s death and no will or note was left behind. This was described as ‘very tattered’ and a method that was simply ‘out of character’.
Recording his descriptive conclusions, Mr Skerrett, Chief Coroner for Gloucestershire, said: ‘Mr Kingston took his own life using a shotgun causing severe trauma to the head.
‘The evidence from his wife, family and business partners all support his lack of suicidal intent. He was experiencing side effects from recently prescribed medication.’
Ms Gabriela paid tribute to her husband in a joint statement with his family following his death, describing him as ‘a special person who brought light to the lives of everyone who knew him’.
They described his death as ‘a huge shock to the whole family’.
The King and Queen sent their ‘heartfelt thoughts and prayers’ to Lady Gabriella, known as Ella, and Kingston’s parents and siblings.
Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Lady Gabriella Windsor and Thomas Kingston attend Day 5 of Royal Ascot 2023 and watch the racing from the Royal Box.
On March 12, about 140 close friends and family members, including Prince William and his wife Gabriella’s parents, the Princess of Kent and Princess Alexandra, gathered at the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace in London for Prime Minister Kingston’s funeral.
Lady Gabriella is the King’s cousin and they are both great-grandchildren of King George V.
Mr Kingston was a director of Devonport Capital, which specialized in providing finance to ‘frontier economy’ companies.
A graduate of the University of Bristol, he joined the Foreign Office diplomatic mission and worked to rescue hostages in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Professor Joanna Moncrieff, Professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London, warned that taking antidepressants could have potentially harmful effects. It also warned people to exercise caution and advise when coming off antidepressants.
She told MailOnline: ‘It has been documented that some people may react to SSRIs and other antidepressants, and they are more likely to become very agitated and have suicidal thoughts.
‘And people have been known to experience some pretty severe withdrawal symptoms.
‘People who start taking these drugs should be warned about the possible effects. You should have a good discussion with your doctor about whether this medication is worth it. Results may be uncertain. The benefits of antidepressants are uncertain.
‘But it certainly shouldn’t be taken off suddenly. If the patient really wants to remove it, it must be done in a safe way under the supervision of a doctor.’
For free, confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org or www.thecalmzone.net/-get-support.
