Tom Kingston was never scared – even in the middle of a war zone
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Tom Kingston was brave and tough. He was also a “very, very, very” committed Christian who for three years worked side by side in Baghdad with the city’s famous “vicar”, the Reverend Canon Andrew White. Together they had survived countless suicide bomb attacks, only for Kingston to die 20 years later in a Cotswold village that was as outwardly peaceful as Iraq was violent.
Kingston, who was just 45, had been married for almost five years to Lady Gabriella Windsor, the 42-year-old daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Her “beloved husband”, said his grieving widow in a statement, was an “exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him”.
His death has sent shockwaves through his close circle of friends and family as well as in the corridors of Buckingham Palace. The circumstances remain unclear and a postmortem was being carried out on Wednesday afternoon. His body was found at his parents’ £3 million home in Gloucestershire. Police said they wished to keep the location secret to ensure the “safety and security” of the family.
The Telegraph understands that Lord Frederick Windsor, Lady Gabriella’s brother, took on the awful duty of calling Kingston’s closest friends, including his three best men, to keep them apprised.
‘He wasn’t a depressed individual’
Police said the death was not suspicious, while sources stressed it had come as a complete shock given that Kingston had not been suffering from long-term health problems. Equally, the marriage remained a very happy one and his financial business was thriving. Speculation will be hard for the family to cope with but is rife.
Canon White, who had remained in touch in the post-Baghdad days and attended their wedding, told The Telegraph: “You do wonder how something like this happens. He was so fit and so mentally stable. He wasn’t a depressed individual.”
He also noted his friend was still young and wasn’t, as far as he was aware, suffering from any serious physical illness. That has been confirmed by multiple sources.
Kingston’s journey has been an eventful one from hostage negotiator and parish dogsbody in Baghdad in the early 2000s to financier with offices in St James’s that are a stone’s throw from Clarence House.
In 2019, he wed Lady Gabriella – known to her friends as Ella – at a wedding attended by senior members of the Royal family, including Elizabeth II. Kingston had come a long way, descended from a family of Cheshire butchers and farmers, and whose father was educated at a state secondary modern school (albeit he went on to become a highly successful QC).
“He’s one of those guys who can be quite enigmatic and doesn’t tell you what he is thinking,” said one friend. “He’s careful. Perhaps it’s a legacy from the work he was doing in Iraq.”
Known at university – he read economic history at Bristol – as “Christian Tom”, Kingston joined the diplomatic missions unit at the Foreign Office before being seconded to Baghdad as project manager for the International Centre for Reconciliation, based at Coventry Cathedral. Canon White remembers first meeting Kingston in Coventry prior to the posting to Baghdad.
A ‘very, very, very committed Christian’
“It is terrible about my Tom,” said Canon White, who was the vicar of St George’s Church, the only Anglican church in Iraq. “I loved him so much.”
He was, he said, a “very, very, very committed Christian”, fearless in those unbelievably dangerous days in Baghdad between 2003 and 2006. “The thing about Tom was he was never scared. Whatever I asked him to do he would do it with a big smile on his face in the middle of a war zone.”
During the stint in Baghdad, Kingston was involved in mediating between political and tribal leaders as well as negotiating the release of hostages. He was also the vicar’s aide, carrying out parish work outside the safety of the Green Zone. “We survived several suicide bomb attacks.
“We were regularly caught up in IED [improvised explosive device] attacks. Cars would blow up in front of us and we would just move on. We were always together and had 35 armed guards at all times,” recalled Canon White.
During his time in Baghdad, Kingston became good friends with Rory Stewart, the former Tory cabinet minister who was stationed in Iraq in the wake of the invasion and who, it was subsequently suggested, was an MI6 officer (which he has denied). Stewart declined to discuss his friendship with Kingston so soon after his death.
Once out of Iraq, Kingston entered the world of finance, firstly with Schroders, a blue-blooded asset management company founded in London in 1804 and now with offices worldwide. He was subsequently appointed managing director of Voltan Capital Management before joining Devonport Capital as one of two directors in 2017.
The firm, based in St James’s, “provides finance to developed market companies exporting to, or operating in, the emerging economies”. In other words it provides short-term loans to businesses operating in the developing world.
It was founded by Paul Bailey, a former City lawyer, who had previously run a boutique investment firm in Iraq. Devonport Capital had expanded its operations significantly in recent years, with accounts showing more than £5 million in shareholder funds. Kingston was at the time of his death a co-owner in the business.
‘One of the last true English gentlemen’
His death comes out of the blue. “We are so upset about the news, everybody loved him. He was kind, charming and thoroughly decent and one of the last true English gentlemen. It is beyond tragic and so hard to get one’s head around,” said one close acquaintance.
Another friend, who’d had dinner with Kingston and his wife towards the end of last year, said: “We are really shocked. He was so young. They were very close as a couple.” The friend stressed that Lady Gabriella and Kingston had been “happily married” and had “seemed perfectly fine” at the dinner party held in London a few months ago.
Well placed sources also insisted the marriage was solid, adding to the mystery and compounding the distress over his sudden death.
Gloucestershire Coroner’s Service Office said on Wednesday that information would be released “as and when is necessary. We are dealing with the death of a 45-year-old male and are awaiting a post-mortem to establish the cause of death. The post-mortem exam will take place today and further information will be released if a coroner opens an inquest”.
Gloucestershire police said in a statement: “We were called by the ambulance service at 6.25pm on Sunday with a report of the death of a 45-year-old man at an address in the Cotswolds. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”
‘A very gentle soul, just like his father’
In the pretty village, there was palpable upset while locals rallied round. Kingston lived with his wife in London and had been visiting his parents’ house, a sprawling manor protected by a high wall.
The local sub-postmaster said on Wednesday: “We are all so sad to hear the terrible news. They are a lovely, gentle family who do a lot for the village and the church. They are a big part of the local community.”
He added: “Thomas popped into the shop a lot, he would come by every so often. I last saw him a few months ago. He was a very gentle soul, just like his father. Everyone is in shock, it’s really sad and very fresh.”
Kingston comes from a well-to-do family. His father Martin retired recently from the Bar, having enjoyed a successful career as a planning barrister. Mr Kingston had been elected to the General Synod in 2016 while his wife Jill – Kingston’s mother – is also heavily involved in the church. She is a trustee of a Christian healing centre and runs the Nadezhda Charitable Trust, which supports projects in Zimbabwe.
By contrast, Lady Gabriella is the daughter of Prince Michael of Kent, the late Queen’s first cousin and a grandson of George V. Her mother Princess Michael of Kent is descended from European aristocracy. Her grandmother was an Austrian princess.
Kingston was introduced to Lady Gabriella through mutual friends and they had been an item for the past nine years. Handsome and eminently eligible, he had been linked to other women who moved in royal circles including Natalie Hicks-Löbbecke, said to have been a former girlfriend of prince William, and Pippa Middleton, sister of the Princess of Wales.
Kingston proposed to Lady Gabriella at his parents’ holiday home on the Channel Island of Sark. The grand wedding was held at St George’s Chapel Windsor in May 2019.
The couple were last photographed together in public as recently as Valentine’s Day, having joined the Queen at Grosvenor House to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s first folio. Looking at the picture, they are the epitome of the handsome, happy couple. There is no inkling of the tragedy to come.
