Kate Middleton’s heart-warming gesture to grieving royal revealed

Kate Middleton asked Lady Gabriella Kingston, whose husband died earlier this year, to help plan her annual carol service.

In an effort to be there for the grieving Lady Gabriella, the Princess of Wales approached her over the summer.

She was ‘very touched and grateful’ to be asked.

Lady Gabriella, a singer, selected the musical performances featured at the annual Together at Christmas event at Westminster Abbey.

She was seen walking into the venue on December 6 surrounded by the Middleton family.

A friend of Lady Gabriella told The Telegraph: ‘She was very touched and grateful to the Princess to be asked to contribute to her very special concert and that she felt honoured to do so.’

Thomas Kingston, described by family as an ‘exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him’, died suddenly in February. He was 45.

A coroner found he died from a head injury at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds.

Lady Gabriella invited singer Gregory Porter and pianist Rosey Chan to perform at the festive concert.

The service marked Kate’s biggest return yet to royal duties after finishing chemotherapy.

‘This carol service is a heartfelt celebration of every one of you, and a reminder that at Christmas, and throughout the year, we must all shine for each other,’ the princess said in a video introduction to the service.

‘Because in times of joy and sadness, we are all each other’s light.’

Who is Lady Gabriella Windsor?

Lady Gabriella is the only daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, who is first cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth.

The royal, known professionally as Ella Windsor, grew up in a flat in Kensington Palace before studying comparative literature and Hispanic studies at Brown University in Rhode Island. 

A writer, Lady Gabriella has bylines in The London Magazine, among others, according to her bio.

She sings, too. Lady Gabriella released two songs in 2020 for the Playing For Change Foundation, a non-profit that promotes positive change through music.

Buckingham Palace announced that she was engaged to Kingston, a director at the private equity firm Devonport Capital, in September 2018.

Kingston’s first job was in the Foreign Office where he travelled to Iraq to help aid the release of hostages.

Wedding bells rang the following year at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

After palace officials confirmed her husband’s death, Lady Gabrielle released a joint statement saying his death came as a ‘great shock’.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.