Yesterday Minister-Lou mentioned Thomas Kingston…
Andrew White… At Bristol University friends described Kingston as a ‘very, very, very’ committed Christian.
In 2004, in Iraq, negotiating the release of hostages and adjudicating disputes between warring leaders, Kingston worked alongside Canon Andrew White, the ‘Vicar of Baghdad’: ‘Tom has a fierce determination to make things succeed and great insight into what makes humans tick, both good and bad. He uses those to see beyond the impossible and get through to the other side.’
Lady Gabriella… Kingston became a successful financier… allegedly dated Pippa Middleton… married Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’s daughter Lady Gabriella in 2018.
In February 2024 45-year-old Kingston died from a head injury. A gun was found nearby. The inquest determined that Tom had recently come off antidepressants… he’d taken his own life… ‘The evidence… all supports his lack of suicidal intent.’
Lady Gabriella described her marriage as ‘deeply loving and trusting’, saying her husband had never expressed any suicidal thoughts.
Martin and Jill Kingston… Last week Tom’s parents, Martin and Jill, were interviewed. Martin said: ‘I would like (Tom) to be remembered as someone with a big smile on his face, while helping people to do difficult things.’
Jill described the day of Tom’s death… apparently normal lunch with him… later finding his body… their subsequent call for increased protections on antidepressants.
Expressing their Christian faith Martin quoted Charles Spurgeon: ‘I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages.’
Me… Tom was a good man with caring parents, loving wife, successful career, happy social life, sufficient money and possessions… who suffered with depression. I can neither claim immunity from mental ill-health nor judge others.
Tom was a committed Christian. His faith gained him respect throughout his life, yet still he took his life. Faith doesn’t prevent tough times of depression or crisis.
‘I have learnt to kiss the waves…’ Learning to see problems positively, as a means of increasing my faith is a tough lesson I’m still learning.
malcolmsmusings.org 
You are right, Malcolm, “Faith doesn’t prevent tough times of depression or crisis.” Fighting depression can be mentally and physically exhausting.
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It can be, Dana. Perhaps that was part of Thomas Kingston’s struggles.
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Perhaps so.
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I have brothers and sisters in Christ who would call the manner of Tom’s death “shameful.” And they would be wrong in doing so. The truth is no one (but God) knows the whole story, and no one but Him is fit to judge Tom, or anyone else.
As you said in an earlier post, “Cobbler, stick to your last.”
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Thanks for that reminder, David. It’s too easy to stand outside a situation and judge. The more stories I hear from folks who have tough stuff to deal with, the less judgemental I become. I often find myself thinking ‘There, but for the grace of God…’ It could be me in that situation; I really can’t say how I would react…
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