NEED TO KNOW
- Sophie Winkleman opens up about the death of her brother-in-law, Thomas Kingston, in a new interview
- Kingston, who was married to Sophie’s sister-in-law Lady Gabriella, died by suicide in February 2024
- “We all miss him every day,” the actress said
Sophie Winkleman is opening up about how the royal family continues to grieve the death of her brother-in-law Thomas Kingston.
“That was a big tragedy in our lives, and we all miss him every day,” Sophie, 45, said in a new interview with The Times.
The Wild Cherry actress is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince Michael of Kent. Kingston — who was married to Frederick’s sister, Lady Gabriella — died by suicide at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds on Feb. 25, 2024. He was 45.
“My girls adored him,” Sophie added of her daughters, Maud, 12, and Isabella, 9. “It’s brutal. We’re still in touch with all his family, and it feels like he’s still with us.”
In December 2024, Lady Gabriella, who is a second cousin to King Charles, spoke about her husband’s death during an inquest at Gloucestershire Coroner’s Court, saying she believed it was influenced by a new medication he had been taking.
“It appears to me Tom’s impulsive action was likely provoked by an adverse reaction to the medication he had been taking in the last two weeks of his life,” Lady Gabriella said in a witness statement read aloud in court, according to The Telegraph.
“If anything had been troubling him, I’m positive that he would have shared that he was struggling severely,” she added. “The fact that he took his life at the home of his beloved parents suggests the decision was the result of a sudden impulse.”
Since Kingston’s death, Sophie said her own husband has started working with James’ Place, a charity that helps men with suicidal thoughts, as a way to pay tribute to his late brother-in-law.
“It’s not a positive to come out of it at all, but it makes you so much more aware that the exterior of someone can be very different from what’s going on inside,” she said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lady Frederick Windsor opened up about her own brush with death. In 2017, just a few months after giving birth to her second daughter, she was a passenger in a car crash that left her trapped in the backseat for nearly 30 minutes before she could be rescued.
“I really thought I was going to croak,” she recalled. “I said very efficient prayers — ‘Make Freddie meet someone nice, who’s really sweet to the girls, and make my parents live till they’re 309, so they can look after them.’ I remember sort of rising above myself and then being sucked back in and thinking, ‘Oh, maybe I’m going to be all right.’ ”
For days, it was a question whether she would be able to walk again. “I was on morphine, so I was like, ‘Fine. I like reading anyway,’ but my mum went haywire at the news.”
She eventually recovered, though she suffered from debilitating back pain for 18 months. However, the actress and royal-by-marriage said she finds “perspective” on her troubles through charity work.
“I visit parts of the country most of my friends don’t even know exist and see people living such bloody difficult lives. So I just think, ‘Shut up. You’re not allowed to complain about anything. You’re so lucky,’ ” she said.
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She has, however, developed a new sense of empathy for the members of the royal family. As an actress, Sophie said she knows she put herself in the public eye, but “they have no choice.”
“None of them went on Pop Idol or something to be famous,” she said. “To have that sort of blinding spotlight in your face from when you’re born, not knowing quite whom you can trust, not knowing if someone’s going to betray you, people writing lies about you the whole time, is just brutal.”
“I feel for them all. I don’t think a life with that much scrutiny and pressure is remotely healthy,” she added.
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