Truth behind the ‘Kennedy curse’ as Saoirse becomes 13th member of ‘America’s Royal family’ to die in assassinations, plane crashes and drug ODs
THE once powerful Kennedy family was the closest thing America ever had to its own Royal Family.
However, it is a clan that was dogged by death long before JFK was infamously gunned down on the streets of Dallas.
And - following the "overdose death" of Saoirse Kennedy Hill - the so-called family curse still appears to be casting a very dark shadow.
Most people know about the shocking assassinations of President Kennedy and his brother Robert in the 1960s.
However, the scandal-hit Kennedys have suffered a string of personal tragedies which some believe is down to more than just bad luck.
Now 13 members of the family and their spouses have died before their time - others outside the family have perished along the way.
Intertwined with the shocking death toll, the family has been rocked by rape and murder scandals, claims of drugs abuse and high society marriage break-ups.
Cancer has also played a role in the Kennedy family tragedies and in 1973, Ted Kennedy's 12-year-old son Edward Jr. lost a leg to bone cancer.
He later told CNN in 2009 he rejected the idea of a family curse.
"The Kennedy family has had to endure these things in a very open way. But our family is just like ... every other family in America in many ways," he said.
However, here are the key dates which some say add weight to the legend of the Kennedy Curse:
WAR HERO CRASH
Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr was killed in August 1944 during World War II - he was just 29 years old.
He was tragically died when his bomber aircraft exploded over Suffolk during the Second World War.
Kennedy had completed 25 combat missions and was eligible to return home but decided to fight on.
Joseph was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, Air Medal, and Purple Heart Medal for his heroics.
He was the eldest of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.
SISTER KILLED
Kathleen Kennedy died in a plane crash four years after her high-profile wedding to the Marquess of Hartington.
While working with the Red Cross, she began a romantic relationship with Lord Hartington, whom she married in May 1944.
He was killed on active service in Belgium only four months later.
Kathleen, 28, then died in a plane crash in May 1948, flying to the south of France while on vacation with her new partner, the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam.
JFK ASSASSINATION
On November 22, 1963 President John F Kennedy was infamously assassinated as he rode in an open convertible through Dallas, Texas.
He was killed just months after his son died just two days after he was born.
Of all the events in US history, the death has probably spawned more conspiracy theories than any other.
However, the official explanation is that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole gunman
Former US Marine Oswald was a proud communist, who briefly defected to the USSR, and was a supporter of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
He was allegedly motivated to kill the President by Kennedy’s hard line approach to Cuba including a botched invasion in 1961 known as the Bay of Pigs.
BOBBY SHOT
Five years after JFK's death, his younger brother Robert was assassinated after winning the California Democratic primary.
One June 5, 1968 he was shot and mortally wounded shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
The assassin was later named as Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan - who was apprehended immediately after opening fire with a .22 pistol.
When detectives searched his home they found a chilling diary with the words 'RFK must die' written over and over again.
CHAPPAQUIDDICK
The Chappaquiddick incident refers to a bizarre car crash that occurred in Massachusetts on July 19, 1969.
The late-night accident was caused by Senator Ted Kennedy's negligence and resulted in the death of his 28-year-old passenger Mary Jo Kopechne
According to Kennedy's testimony, he accidentally drove his car off the one-lane bridge and into the tide-swept Poucha Pond.
He swam free, left the scene, and did not report the accident to the police for ten hours; Kopechne died inside the fully submerged car.
The story became global news and is believed to have influenced Kennedy's decision not to campaign for President in 1972 and 1976.
OVERDOSE DEATH
David Kennedy was the fourth child of Robert F Kennedy and aged just 12 when he watched his dad gunned down on live TV.
As a child, he was shy, introverted and sensitive, and shared a particularly strong bond with his father.
His father's shocking assassination left a deep emotional scar on young David and he turned to drugs in his early teens.
By 1984 he was dead aged 28 after overdosing on cocaine, Demerol and Mellaril in a Palm Beach hotel room.
SKI TRAGEDY
On New Year's Eve 1997, Michael Kennedy, the sixth of RFK's children, was killed in a skiing accident in Colorado.
He was playing American football on skis with his pals when he suddenly crashed into a tree in Aspen, Colorado.
The 39-year-old was not wearing a helmet or any other kind of safety equipment, an inquest later revealed.
Michael was just five years old when his uncle was assassinated and 10 when his dad was also shot dead.
HOLIDAY CRASH
John F Kennedy Junior, JFK's son, died while flying his light aircraft to the holiday island of Martha's Vineyard.
He reportedly became disoriented during the night flight and then crashed into the ocean on July 16, 1999.
He was travelling with his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette to attend the wedding of his cousin.
All three perished in the tragedy.
John's father was assassinated just three days before his third birthday.
FOUND HANGING
Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr, died after reportedly hanging herself at home on May 16, 2012.
Her husband, Robert Kennedy Jr, a prominent environmental lawyer and the son of former senator Robert F Kennedy, had filed for a divorce two years earlier.
The two had married in 1994 and had four children together. The divorce case was still pending at the time of her death.
In the months after the couple's separation became public, Mary Kennedy was arrested twice by police officers who suspected her of driving while drunk.
DEPRESSION STRUGGLE
The most recent 'victim' of the so-called curse was Robert F. Kennedy’s granddaughter Saoirse who died from a suspected drug overdose at her family’s home in Cape Cod.
Saoirse Kennedy Hill, 22, is understood to have gone into cardiac arrest at the compound where her grandmother Ethel Kennedy, 91, lives.
MOST READ IN NEWS
Paramedics rushed to the home on Thursday and took her to Cape Cod Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the New York Times reports.
“Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse,” the Kennedy family said in a statement.
“Her life was filled with hope, promise and love.”