Prince Harry’s model ex Florence Brudenell-Bruce’s relative falls to his death
AN OAP aristocrat tumbled to his death while letting his cat out of his bedroom window, his partner said yesterday
The 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, 98, fell cracking his head on the concrete patio below.
Michael Brudenell-Bruce, related to Prince Harry's ex, Florence Brudenell-Bruce, was found in a pool of blood by his partner of over 30 years.
Author Teresa Marshall de Paoli, 88, said he probably lost his balance opening the window to free stuck cat Honeybun.
She said: "It was a freak accident. He was covered in blood. I said to him, 'Oh, my darling, what has happened?', but he was dead."
The Eton-educated marquess was pronounced dead by 999 crews called to the house in Shepherd's Bush, West London. His death has been referred to the coroner.
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Yesterday distraught Teresa said the police treated the death as a "crime scene" although she was not arrested.
Later she was allowed to say goodbye and spray his favourite aftershave on his body.
Teresa said: “They thought I might have killed him before they realised he had fallen out of the window.
“It was an absolutely freak accident.
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“There had not been a row – I had not hit him.
“I think the cat called Honeybun got her head stuck and he pushed it (the window) up and lost his balance and he fell onto to the patio.
“He fell breaking the roses on wall as he fell.
”He hit the concrete with back of head – I was told that would have killed him.
“He could have been lying there an hour, an hour and a half. He was cold and very pale.
“I got a cushion and put it under his head. I dialled 999 and said my partner has had an accident.
“The ambulance and police was here within seven minutes and a police officer, a woman said he was dead.
"A Police officer said death was instant. The police treated it as a crime.”
It was an absolutely freak accident. There had not been a row – I had not hit him
Teresa Marshall de Paoli
She contacted his daughter Lady Kathryn Brudenell Bruce who dashed to the scene after the tragedy late Sunday evening.
";I had to spend all night in an arm chair drawing room with Lady Kathryn. We could not go into any other room.
“The police were there all night and all the following day."
The pair had lived at the house for 16 years since they left their cottage on the family’s 4,500-acre estate in the Savernake Forest near Swindon, Wilts.
The thrice divorced Marquess, whose granddaughter Bo Bruce appeared on BBC song contest The Voice, went to Eton before serving as a captain in the Royal Horse Guards, and later became a stockbroker.
A spokesman for the Met Police said: "Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at 20:05hrs on Sunday, 12 May, to an address in Abdale Road, W12, after a man in his 90’s was found deceased.
"Officers and London Ambulance Service attended.
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"His next of kin have been informed.
"The death is as unexpected but not being treated suspicious."