Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton’s college friend Ben Duncan died at age 45, multiple British outlets have reported.
Duncan, who appeared on the U.K’s Big Brother in 2010, fell about 100 feet off a rooftop bar (on the seventh floor) at London’s Trafalgar St. James Hotel. The incident took place on Thursday, October 30.
London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed that “officers responded to concerns for a man on the roof of a building in Cockspur Street, Westminster,” in a statement to the Daily Mail, who was first to report the news. The reported incident took place just after 11 p.m. local time.
“The man sadly fell from height. Despite the best efforts from the London Ambulance service, he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene,” the statement added. “His death is unexpected but non-suspicious.”
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A London ambulance service also discussed Duncan’s death in a separate statement to the Daily Mail. (The publication also reported that there were high plastic screens around the edge of the rooftop bar.)
“’We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer, paramedics in quick response cars and paramedics from our hazardous area response team,” they shared. “We also dispatched a trauma team in a car from London’s Air Ambulance. Very sadly, despite the best efforts of our crews, a man was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Before his reality TV career, Duncan attended St Andrews university at the same time as William and Kate, both 43. It’s been reported that he was part of their friend group while at school and was around when the royal family members first started dating.
Duncan spoke about his close knit friendship with William and Kate during a 2010 interview.
“Because we’d had Will and Kate in our midst we had royal protection officers swarming the place,” he recalled at the time. “We knew that they had anthem it off and we knew that something was happening, but they were just left alone to get on with it.”
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Duncan also recalled the immediately-famous fashion show where Kate’s runway walk first caught William’s eye.
“’It was the end of their first year. I was there, and in person there were a lot of attractive girls,” he recalled. “She was in a very daring dress, in a sheer stocking-like dress. He was sitting front row and his eyes were like stalks.”
Duncan added, “She brushed by him on the way to the catwalk and things were never the same again — the whole history of the monarchy had been altered.”
Us Weekly has reached out to William’s team for comment.
Aside from his time on the U.K.’s Big Brother, Duncan also appeared on Come Dine With Me, Ladette to Lady and Celebrity Coach Trip. Duncan discussed his reality TV fame during an interview with Digital Spy in 2010.
“Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago if my life had changed. And the thing is that I’ve never done a 9 to 5 job, so in many ways it hasn’t at all,” he added. “Of course people immediately ask me for pictures and attention in the street, but I was always the sort of person who spoke to people in the street anyway. I’ve always liked parties and been on the London rave scene, so that hasn’t changed. I pick and choose my events more carefully immediately, that’s one thing that has changed.”
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