Latest news with #DevonportCapital
Daily Mirror
23-04-2025
- Daily Mirror
Tragic Thomas Kingston's company owes £30million as it goes into administration
Thomas Kingston, the late husband of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's daughter Lady Gabriella Kingston, was director of Devonport Capital which owes millions of pounds The company tragic Thomas Kingston was joint owner of has been put into administration with debts of nearly £30million. The financier, husband of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's daughter Lady Gabriella Kingston, died from a catastrophic head injury from a gunshot in February 2024. Tributes poured in for the 45-year-old, with close family describing him as "an exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him". At a previous inquest his distraught father, William Martin Kingston, heartbreakingly described through tears the moment he found his son lying dead in the locked bathroom of a detached annexe. It has now been revealed Devonport Capital, which specialises in providing finance for companies in 'frontier economies' and Mr Kingston was director of, owes creditors £29.5million, MailOnline reported. A spokesman for the firm told the publication: 'Having made significant progress realising and securing funds, it became clear earlier this year that the best way to ensure fair and proper allocation of outstanding recoveries was to place the business into administration.' Lady Gabriella told an inquest into his tragic death how in his final weeks her husband had 'seemed normal', apart from early in the day after previously taking zopiclone, which she said made him seem 'almost hungover'. In her statement, she described their marriage as 'deeply loving and trusting' and said he had never expressed any suicidal thoughts to her or others. Lady Gabriella, 43, said her marriage to Mr Kingston was 'deeply loving and trusting'. In a statement read out by Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, Lady Gabriella said her husband's decision to take his own life was likely the 'result of a sudden impulse.' She said she believed his death was 'likely provoked' by an adverse reaction to the medication he had begun, and subsequently stopped taking, in the weeks leading up to his death. Mr Kingston married Lady Gabriella Kingston on May 18, 2019, at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. They got engaged the previous year on the Isle of Sark, part of the Channel Islands. In June 2019, Mr Kingston made his first-ever appearance at Trooping the Colour, an annual parade held in honour of Queen Elizabeth's birthday. Mr Kingston, a graduate of the University of Bristol, also worked in Baghdad, Iraq, working to procure the release of hostages after joining the Diplomatic Missions Unit of the Foreign Office. The financier was a close friend of Pippa Middleton – the Princess of Wales 's sister – and the pair were said to have dated in 2011.
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Tragic royal Thomas Kingston's company owes creditors £30million - after inquest told of depression struggle. RICHARD EDEN exclusive
His death – intolerably sudden, as it was – left friends stunned and shocked, and his wife, Lady Gabriella Windsor, heartbroken. But now, 14 months later, more light can be shed on the scale and scope of Thomas Kingston's business ambitions and perhaps also on some of the pressures that the 45-year-old former hostage negotiator was contending with. After serving in the Foreign Office – notably in Baghdad, during the worst years of the Iraq War when he inspired a colleague to describe him as 'one of the most remarkable people I have ever worked with' – Kingston plunged into the financial world. By 2017 – two years before his marriage to Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's daughter Ella, 44, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip – he became a director of Devonport Capital, which specialises in providing finance for companies involved in post-war reconstruction. The company, of which Kingston was joint owner, has now been put into administration. A preliminary statement shows that Devonport Capital owes creditors a staggering £29.5million. Kingston and his fellow director and joint owner, Paul Bailey, had secured the backing of New Zealand-born billionaire Christopher Chandler, who helped finance the television channel GB News. Such was Chandler's faith in the duo that he'd invested millions in Devonport – and is currently owed nearly £13million by the company. His Majesty's Revenue & Customs is owed £788,000, though that's dwarfed by the £1.67million which Devonport owed to another of Kingston's companies, Aberdair Ltd. The pair at Royal Ascot in 2023. At the inquest into Thomas's death, it emerged that he had struggled with depression and had been taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as anti-depressants – but had stopped taking them. Tom's father, the eminent barrister Martin Kingston, is personally owed £162,000. All of this might suggest that Kingston had been overwhelmed by a sea of debt. But that would appear to be inaccurate: Devonport was, and is, in a position to return all money to investors and creditors – and still have a £2.5million surplus. 'In February 2024, the decision was taken to wind down the business of Devonport Capital,' a spokesman tells me. 'Having made significant progress realising and securing funds, it became clear earlier this year that the best way to ensure fair and proper allocation of outstanding recoveries was to place the business into administration.' But perhaps in his last days Kingston had, tragically, lost sight of this. At the inquest into his death, it emerged that he had struggled with depression and had been taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as anti-depressants – but had stopped taking them. His wife, in a statement read out on her behalf, said: '[Work] was certainly a challenge for him over the years, but I highly doubt it would have led him to take his own life, and it seemed much improved. If anything had been troubling him, I'm positive that he would have shared that he was struggling severely. The fact that he took his life at the home of his beloved parents suggests the decision was the result of a sudden impulse.' The coroner ruled that Thomas was suffering adverse effects of medication prescribed by his doctor. This prompted his parents to call for a change in how SSRIs are prescribed, with his father making an appearance on Radio 4's Today programme. Patients, he argued, should be told explicitly about the potential side effects of the medication – including the possible consequences if they stop taking it.
