A relatively young member of the British Royal Family, Thomas Kingston, ended his life by way of suicide at his parents' home in February at the age of 45 for no readily apparent reason.

Following a months-long inquest into Kingston's death, the suicide by shotgun blast to the head has been confirmed with the likely cause for that fateful act being an alleged adverse reaction to prescription antidepressant medications, the BBC reported.

Kingston's grieving widow, Lady Gabriella, the daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and a cousin of the King, is now warning others to be more cognizant of the potential dangers and side effects of certain mental health drugs.

Suicide blamed on adverse reaction to mental health drugs

The Guardian reported on the inquest hearing held by the Gloucestershire coroner's office on Tuesday, during which senior coroner Katy Skerrett explained, "Mr Kingston took his own life … The evidence of his wife, family, and business partner all supports his lack of suicidal intent. He was suffering adverse effects of medication he had recently been prescribed."

The inquest revealed that Kingston, who'd complained about having trouble sleeping because of stress at work, had been prescribed medications by the Buckingham Palace general practitioner's office that included an antidepressant known as sertraline and a sleeping aid known as zopiclone.

He later complained that the drug combination wasn't making him feel better and actually increased his anxiety, so the doctor switched out sertraline for a similar antidepressant drug known as citalopram, both of which belong to the class of mental health medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs.

Yet, it appears that combination didn't work for Kingston either, and evidence presented by the coroner suggests that he ceased taking his medications altogether in the weeks before his untimely death.

People "need to be made more aware of the side effects" of SSRI drugs

The Daily Mail reported that a statement from Lady Gabriella was read aloud at the inquest hearing over her late husband's suicide, in which she also blamed the prescription medications he'd been given as the proximate cause of him unexpectedly ending his own life.

"(Work) was certainly a challenge for him over the years but I highly doubt it would have led him to take his own life, and it seemed much improved," Gabriella said. "If anything had been troubling him, I'm positive that he would have shared that he was struggling severely. The fact that he took his life at the home of his beloved parents suggests the decision was the result of a sudden impulse."

She went on to assert that Kingston's suicide was "likely provoked" by the medications and claimed, "The lack of any evidence of inclination it seems highly likely to me that he had an adverse reaction to the pills that led him to take his life."

"I believe anyone taking pills such as these need to be made more aware of the side effects to prevent any future deaths," Gabriella's statement added. "If this could happen to Tom, this could happen to anyone."

Drug labels and prescription guidelines should be more clear

Also testifying at the inquest hearing, per the Daily Mail, was Dr. David Healy, a psychiatric medical expert, who explained that the sleeping aid, zopiclone, is known to cause anxiety in some patients, and that since both sertraline and citalopram are both SSRIs and essentially the same thing, the latter shouldn't have been substituted for the former when Kingston complained that the first drug wasn't working.

He further testified that prescribing guidelines and labels for SSRI drugs should be more clear about possible side effects and interactions with other drugs, and said, "We need a much more explicit statement saying that these drugs can cause people to commit suicide who wouldn't have otherwise."

As for Kingston's grieving family, they said through an attorney that they don't blame the doctor who prescribed the medications because "she was acting as good doctors do," but added that "the question is whether there is sufficient advice to doctors on SSRIs."