The sad news of Hairy Biker Dave Myers’ death was accompanied by an achingly moving tribute by his cookery pal Simon King, which he concluded with these words: “May I ask you all for one further kindness and allow Lili, his wife, his family, close friends and I some time and some peace to process our huge loss. I am sure I will see you all soon.” Amen to all that, for sure. and you’d like to think this will be a given for everyone, wouldn’t you? Such kindness doesn’t seem to be on offer for the family and friends of Thomas Kingston, who has died aged 45.
Thomas who, you might well ask? I certainly asked Thomas who? when I heard the news on the radio and it turns out he was the husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor, someone else I’d never heard of, who is 56th in line to the throne. Today, I know who he is, or was, and I find myself just a little bit sad by the way sections of the media, and inevitably social media, are reacting to his passing.
The Standard reports that Kingston’s death was “shocking and unexpected (by) his own family and royal commentators alike.” Things start to go downhill from thereon in. He was found dead in his parents’ “£3 million Gloucestershire home”, which is clearly to remind you, as if you needed reminding, he comes from wealth. So what, you may ask, but this is just the beginning. Read this lengthy section from the Standard’s article:
“The question mark still hangs over his cause of death, which has not yet been confirmed and will instead be the subject of an inquest. However, police did confirm that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the royal’s death. Sources close to the couple have shared that the couple were not known to have any relationship or financial difficulties. One close friend 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.” Another friend added: “He’s one of those guys who can be quite enigmatic and doesn’t tell you what he is thinking.”
“One close friend“? Really? A close friend who gave a quote like that to a national newspaper? With friends like that, who needs enemies. But you can see what’s going on here. They’re trying to paint a picture, invent a narrative, to tell you what they are thinking and, presumably, what you should be thinking. I just hope this “close friend” wasn’t paid for their quote, but in the sleazy world of our printed media, you’d imagine anything was possible. But this close friend was not alone. The Standard managed to extract a few quotes from a “close acquaintance” and, in full barrel-scraping mode, the local sub-postmaster.
While the death of Myers is of public interest, in the sense that he is known to millions of TV viewers, you could argue that the death of Thomas Kingston is of little significance to anyone at all, apart from his family and friends. Yet to be fair, many people are interested in the lives of the royals, no matter how lowly, and that’s why his death made headlines. And we can see, already, that at least some sections of the media are gearing up for news of the cause(s) of his death. No peace for his family. as Don Henley put it in his song Dirty Laundry, “It’s interesting when people die.”
I don’t suppose I’ve helped matters much by bringing the contents of national media coverage to my loyal reader but the bigger point is that people, no matter who they are, deserve peace and dignity when times are bad, like when a loved one dies. I hope they get that peace, too, but today’s newspapers suggest that, at least in the case of Thomas Kingston, they just might not.
