Prince William Attends Funeral for Thomas Kingston After Kate Middleton Photo Editing Controversy

Kingston's funeral service was attended by William and other close family and friends.

Prince William joined family and friends at the funeral service for Lady Gabriella's husband, Thomas Kingston, on Tuesday, ET can confirm. 

A royal source tells ET that the Prince of Wales was one of the 140 guests (which also included Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra) at the one-hour funeral service held at The Chapel Royal, St. James, with the coffin being brought from the chapel of Kensington Palace accompanied by close family.

The funeral service began at 11:30 a.m. and was followed by a private cremation. The service was led by the Rev. Canon Paul Wright, with a sermon given by the former Bishop of London, the Rt Rev. Richard Chartres. No final resting place has been revealed. A larger memorial service will be held for Kingston in the future. 

According to the source, "the Kingston family wished for Thomas' funeral to be a private affair."

Henry Nicholls - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Not in attendance was King Charles III, who has scaled down public appearances following his cancer diagnosis. Queen Camilla also missed the ceremony, as she hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace on the same day. Kate Middleton -- who is recovering from abdominal surgery -- did not join her husband at the service. 

Kingston -- who formally dated Kate's sister, Pippa -- died on Feb. 25. He was 45.

Senior coroner for Gloucestershire, Katy Skerrett, confirmed to ET that Kingston's death was caused by a traumatic wound to the head. According to Skerett, Kingston was found dead with a catastrophic head injury in a locked-out building at his parents’ Cotswolds residence. Skerrett revealed that a gun was at the scene.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

William's attendance follows the latest royal family controversy -- which saw Kate Middleton making a rare statement regarding the editing used on the photo released by the royals of her and William's three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, on Sunday.

Royal watchers and social media users quickly called out a series of edits, and The Associated Press pulled the photo, claiming the image was "manipulated." 

On Monday, Kate addressed the controversy with a rare statement on X (formally known as Twitter). The same day, the Princess of Wales was seen out with William in Windsor. A royal source told ET that Kate was on her way to a private appointment when she was seen with William in their car. 

Getty

"Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," Kate wrote. "I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day."

The photo also came amid months of speculation (and internet theories that have been shut down multiple times by the palace) surrounding Kate's whereabouts and extended absence from public duties. 

Prior to her outing earlier this week, it had been 70 days since Kate was seen in public, before she was spotted in the car with her mother, Carole Middleton. It was the first time Kate had been seen since being hospitalized in January.

Last week, a spokesperson for William shared that he nor his family are focusing on the extra chatter, and are focusing on their work.

"His focus is on his work and not on social media," the spokesperson told People.

RELATED CONTENT: 

Latest News