In a tragic incident, the 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, Michael Brudenell-Bruce, passed away at the age of 98 after falling from his bedroom window. The accident occurred while he was attempting to free his cat, Honeybun, who had become stuck.
The Marquess, a relative of Florence Brudenell-Bruce, Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend, suffered a fatal head injury upon hitting the concrete patio below. His partner of over 30 years, 88-year-old author Teresa Marshall de Paoli, discovered him in a pool of blood.
“It was a freak accident,” Teresa explained. “He had blood all over him. ‘Oh, my dear, what happened?’ I asked him, but he was already dead.”
Emergency services were called to their home in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, where the Marquess was pronounced dead. Although the police initially treated the scene as a potential crime scene, Teresa was not arrested.
“They thought I might have killed him,” Teresa said, recalling the initial investigation. “But there wasn’t a fight, and I hadn’t hit him. I think Honeybun the cat got her head stuck, and he pushed the window up. He lost his balance, and he fell out onto the patio. As he fell, he broke the roses on the wall.”
The impact of the fall, resulting in a blow to the back of his head on the concrete, is believed to have caused his immediate death. Teresa, who found him pale and cold, placed a pillow under his head and called 999. Emergency services arrived within seven minutes, but it was too late.
After the tragic event late Sunday night, Teresa called his daughter, Lady Kathryn Brudenell-Bruce, who rushed to the scene. “Lady Kathryn and I had to spend the whole night in an armchair in the drawing room. There was nowhere else we could go. The police were there all night and all the next day.”
The Marquess, an Eton alumnus, had been divorced three times and lived with Teresa in a cottage on their family’s 4,500-acre estate in the Savernake Forest near Swindon, Wilts, for 16 years before moving to their current home. His granddaughter, Bo Bruce, appeared on the BBC singing competition The Voice. The Marquess also served as a captain in the Royal Horse Guards before becoming a stockbroker.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed the incident: “The London Ambulance Service called the police to an address in Abdale Road, W12, at 20:05hrs on Sunday, May 12, after a man in his 90s was found dead. Police and the London Ambulance Service attended. His family and friends have been informed. The death is being treated as unexpected but not suspicious.”
