The Marquess of Ailesbury could have ‘been taken advantage of by family members’ before falling to his death from a bedroom window, an inquest has heard.
His grandson Viscount Tom Savernake said he was ‘concerned that family members were taking advantage’ of his grandfather in the final years of his life before he fell from a bedroom window in west London last May.
Michael Brudenell-Bruce, the 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, was 98 when he died at his Shepherd’s Bush home on May 12 last year.
Viscount Savernake visited his grandfather weekly before his death because he was concerned about how other family members treated him, West London Coroner’s Court heard.
He said: ‘I had been visiting every week for the previous five or six years… I began to be concerned that various family members were taking advantage of him.’
He added his grandfather was ‘kind, kind of funny, and devoted to his partner Teresa’.
The 98-year-old was found dead by his former fashion model partner Teresa Marshall De Paoli, who had been cooking dinner.
Dr Claudia Wald, a psychiatrist who assessed Mr Brudenell-Bruce in July 2022, said he spoke about being nervous in his partner’s company.
Michael Brudenell-Bruce, the 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, was 98 when he died at his Shepherd’s Bush home on May 12 last year
Teresa Marshall De Paoli, the former long-term partner of the Marquess of Ailesbury, and his grandson Thomas Brudenell-Bruce arriving at West London coroners court
Lady Kathryn Brudenell-Bruce arriving at the inquest with her husband Tim Wilkinson
She said he ‘had to walk on eggshells for fear she might ask him to leave his home and never come back’.
Dr Wald added: ‘He was also able to comment that when he was in the company of other family members he was a lot more happy.’
His daughter Lady Kathyrn Brudenell-Bruce and Viscount Savernake both told the coroner they did not believe his partner harmed him.
‘I think Pa was content there,’ Ms Brudenell-Bruce told the inquest.
‘I don’t think one ever really knows the truth of a relationship except the two people in that relationship.
‘I think he was comfortable there, all his needs were met and he was very familiar there.’
Mr Brudenell-Bruce had suffered with depression and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia in March 2021, the court was told.
He had suicidal ideas in December 2008 after the stock market crash and his move from Savernacke Forest, Wiltshire, to London.
David Brudenell-Bruce, the 9th Marquess of Ailesbury, arriving at the court alongside his wife
The 98-year-old was found dead by his former fashion model partner Teresa Marshall De Paoli, who had been cooking dinner
The Marquess was described as ‘kind, kind of funny, and devoted to his partner Teresa’ by his grandson
Ms Brudenell-Bruce said that the only time she saw her father ‘seriously depressed’ was in late 2008.
Joanne Chubb, a housekeeper and friend of the couple, told the hearing she was at their home on the afternoon of Mr Brudenell-Bruce’s death.
She said Mr Brudenell-Bruce told her he was going to have a lie down.
Ms Chubb said she noticed his bedroom window was open very wide, which was unusual, but she did not alert Ms Marshall de Paoli, because ‘it was a hot and humid day’.
She described Mr Brudenell-Bruce as acting the ‘same as always’ and ‘chatty as normal’ in the weeks before his death. She added he had been able to walk independently and had ‘very strong hands’.
The inquest previously heard that the Marquess had been found with belts wrapped around his arms.
Ms Marshall De Paoli claimed that he fell after he leant out of his first-floor bedroom window to let out their cat.
When paramedics arrived at the scene they called the police as they believed the incident was ‘suspicious because of the circumstances’.
PC Katherine Taylor, one of the officers who attended the scene, said Marshall de Paoli ‘seemed in shock’ and ‘was distressed’ – but didn’t recall her crying.
Taylor claimed Brudenell-Bruce was found with two belts wrapped around his arms, which another officer suggested could have been to stop him trying to break his fall.
Another officer, Sergeant Carla McCrae, told the inquest she found it ‘unusual’ that Marshall de Paoli thought Brudenell-Bruce ‘must have fallen out of the window trying to save the cat’.
The inquest continues.
