Man Killed in Fire Just Yards from Kensington Palace, Will and Kate's London Home

Just outside Prince William and Princess Kate's London home, Kensington Palace, a man was killed by a fire early this morning, the BBC reports.

Police arrived to the scene around 3 a.m. after receiving a call reporting suspicious behavior near the palace. The officers then found a man in his 40s on fire near the wall of Kensington Palace. Immediately, police tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.

Paramedics and the fire department were called shortly after, but despite their efforts, the man was pronounced dead.

He had been missing for a few hours before his death, having failed to return to a London hospital where he was currently checked in.

A spokesperson for the London police said that for now, the incident is not being treated as suspicious, and no one else is thought to have been involved in the man's death.

The scene outside Kensington Palace still shows signs of what happened: Tourists and other visitors to the palace's surrounding Kensington Gardens caught glimpses of police tape and the leftover fire extinguisher outside.

“It’s such a perfect park, and to think that this has happened outside the palace is horrible," Naomi Bridges, a tourist visiting from Australia, told the Evening Standard. "I love the royals and I am so sorry this has happened on their doorstep.”

Prince William, Princess Kate and their children were not at home when the incident occurred. It is not yet known if Prince Harry, another resident of Kensington Palace, was there at the time.