Thomas Kingston was 'normal, fun and laughing' on day he took his own life, parents reveal
Thomas Kingston was “normal, fun and laughing” on the day he took his own life, his parents have said in their first public interview since his death.
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Mr Kingston, the husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor, the King’s second cousin, took his own life in February last year at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds.
The 45-year-old had stopped taking his antidepressants, which had been prescribed by a GP at the Royal Mews Surgery, in the days leading up to his death.
His parents have now warned about the side effects of the medication and have called for suicide risk associated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to be made clearer.
Discussing the day of his death, Mr Kingston’s mother Jill told the BBC: "He was normal. He was fun. We were laughing about various things."
She said the family spent the day relaxing, reading and sitting by the fire and that there was "nothing that raised any suspicions," though he did have a "strong reaction" to the first SSRI he was prescribed.
Jill and Mr Kingston’s father Martin have called for everyone who is prescribed SSRIs to sign a document acknowledging that they have been told about the difficulties of coming on and off the medication and that they were aware they could lead to suicide in extreme cases.
"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”, Martin added.
They also expressed concern that busy GPs were being pressured to give patients a short-term solution, such as a drug prescription, rather than suggesting longer-term therapy treatments.
“If you’re a general practitioner you’ve got ten or twelve minutes,” Martin said.
“Someone comes in and says they’re under pressure, ‘I’m not sleeping, I need something to help me’.
“The doctor may well say: ‘What about cognitive behavioural therapy?’ and the patient will probably, I think, typically say: ‘No, I just need something to get me through this period.’
“The pressure on the doctor to do something and the desire to help, I think, is what results in effectively saying: ‘Let me give you something that seems to help quite a lot of people’.”
He did say though that his son was “very well cared for by someone who was concerned about his health”, but that a consultant for the inquest had said there were “probably better ways” he could have been helped.
More than 8.7 million people in England were prescribed antidepressants in the 12 months to March 2024, according to the NHS Business Services Authority.
The NHS said SSRIs generally have fewer side effects than most other types of antidepressant but some people "have suicidal thoughts and a desire to self-harm" when they first take them.
It advises patients to tell a relative or close friend that they've started taking antidepressants.
When people come off antidepressants, the NHS advises they reduce their dose "slowly, normally over several weeks or months".
In a prevention of future deaths report made in January Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, said action must be taken over the risk to patients prescribed SSRIs.
She questioned whether there was adequate communication of the risks associated with such medication.
Jill said she's aware of why people take SSRIs, saying: "We have many friends who are on them, and we totally understand why they're on them at the same time.”
Tom had initially been prescribed sertraline and zopiclone, a sleeping tablet, after complaining of trouble sleeping following stress at work.
After returning to the GP and saying they were not making him feel better, he was moved from sertraline to citalopram, a similar SSRI drug.
Speaking about his grief, Martin, who had to break down a door to find his son, said: "You have to make a conscious decision not to do the 'what if' or the 'if onlys'."
He describes Tom as a "joyful, giving, full of life and caring person".
"I would like him to be remembered as someone with a big smile on his face," he said.