Thomas Kingston had been prescribed SSRIs by the Royal Mews Surgery, a practice at Buckingham Palace used by royal household staff. The parents of Thomas Kingston, who was married to Prince and Princess of Michael of Kent’s daughter, have called for a change in SSRI prescriptions after their son took his own life. Mr Kingston, who was married to Lady Gabriella Kingston, died from a head injury, with a gun found near his body, in February last year while at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds.

A coroner concluded in January that Mr Kingston had taken his own life as he was “suffering adverse effects of medication he had recently been prescribed”. In the days leading up to his death, Mr Kingston had stopped taking the antidepressant he had been prescribed, citalopram, with toxicology tests showing caffeine and small amounts of zopiclone in his system. His parents, Martin and Jill Kingston, have now warned over the side effects associated with the SSRIs he was prescribed.

Martin Kingston told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he believed more people should be told explicitly the potential side effects of SSRIs and what can happen if they stop taking them. The couple are calling for patients to sign a document that confirms they’ve been told about the difficulties involved in going on and coming off the medication, including patients being told that in extreme cases “it could lead to suicide.”.

Mrs Kingston said: "We'd really like to see that a person, a spouse, a partner, a parent, a close friend, somebody, was going to walk with them through it. Maybe they should be at that signing time.". Mr Kingston said part of the issue was the pressure doctors were under to help patients during a short appointment slot. He added that if a person complained about their stress or sleep levels and rejected the GP’s suggestion to try a talking therapy like cognitive behavioural therapy, antidepressants might be prescribed out of a “desire to help”.

Mrs Kingston said of SSRIs: “We have many friends who are on them, and we totally understand why they’re on them at the same time”. Senior coroner for Gloucestershire Katy Skerrett said that action must be taken over the risk of suicide to patients prescribed with SSRIs, including how the risk was communicated, as she gave her verdict earlier this year. The coroner raised concerns in a prevention of future deaths report over the guidance to persist with SSRI medications or switch to an alternative when there is no benefit, “especially when any adverse side effects are being experienced”.

The NHS Business Services Authority reported that over 8.7 million people in England were prescribed antidepressants in the 12 month period up to March 2024. They can be used to treat clinical depression, anxiety disorders, OCD and PTSD, according to the NHS. They said: “Most people will only experience a few mild side effects when taking SSRIs. These can be troublesome at first, but they'll generally improve with time.”.