A wealthy old man died when he fell out of his bedroom window while letting his cat out, his partner said yesterday.
The 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, who is 98 years old, hit his head on the concrete patio below and fell.
Michael Brudenell-Bruce was found in a pool of blood by his partner of more than 30 years. He was related to Florence Brudenell-Bruce, who used to be with Prince Harry.
Author Teresa Marshall de Paoli, who is 88 years old, said that he probably fell while opening the window to free Honeybun, the cat that was stuck.
“It was a freak accident,” she said. He had blood all over him. “Oh, my dear, what happened?” I asked him, but he was already dead.
The marquess, who went to Eton, was pronounced dead by 999 crews who were called to the house in Shepherd’s Bush, West London. The coroner has been told about his death.
The police treated Teresa’s death like a “crime scene” yesterday, but she wasn’t arrested.
She was later able to say goodbye and spray his body with his favorite aftershave.
When they first saw that he had fallen out of the window, Teresa said, “They thought I might have killed him.”
“That really was a freak accident.”
“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.”
“I was told that the blow to the back of the head on the concrete would have killed him.”
“He might have been there for an hour or an hour and a half.” He was pale and cold.
“I put a pillow under his head.” I called 999 and told them my partner had an accident.
“The ambulance and police arrived in seven minutes. A woman who worked for the police told me he was dead.”
“A police officer said death happened right away. It was seen as a crime by the police.
After the tragedy late Sunday night, she called his daughter Lady Kathryn Brudenell Bruce, who ran 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 day the next day.”
They had lived in the cottage on their family’s 4,500-acre estate in the Savernake Forest near Swindon, Wilts, for 16 years before moving to this house.
The Marquess has been divorced three times, and his granddaughter, Bo Bruce, was on the BBC singing competition The Voice. He went to Eton and then became a captain in the Royal Horse Guards. After that, he became a stockbroker.
A Met Police spokesman said, “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 were there.”
“His family and friends have been told.”
“The death is as unexpected but not being treated suspicious.”