Coroner issues warning about depression medication after Thomas Kingston death
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A coroner has issued a warning about the effects of medication used to treat depression after the husband of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’s daughter took his own life. Thomas Kingston, a 45-year-old financier, died from a head injury and a gun was found near his body on February 25 last year at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds.
A coroner concluded Mr Kingston took his own life and was “suffering adverse effects of medication he had recently been prescribed”. He married Lady Gabriella, 43, at Windsor Castle in 2019, with Queen Elizabeth II and the late Duke of Edinburgh among the guests.
The inquest into his death at Gloucestershire Coroner’s Court last year was told he had initially been given sertraline, a drug used to treat mental health problems, 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.
Mr 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, Mr Kingston had stopped taking medication and toxicology tests showed caffeine and small amounts of zopiclone in his system.
Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, has said action must be taken over the risk of suicide to patients prescribed the drugs. In a prevention of future deaths report, the coroner questioned whether there is adequate communication of the risks of suicide associated with such medication.
