Grandson of marquess who died in fall ‘concerned family members took advantage’

The grandson of a marquess who died after falling from a bedroom window at his west London home has said he became “concerned that family members were taking advantage” of his grandfather in the last few years of his life.

Giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Michael Brudenell-Bruce, the 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, his grandson Viscount Tom Savernake told West London Coroner’s Court his grandfather was “kind, kind of funny, and devoted to his partner Teresa”.

Mr Brudenell-Bruce was 98 when he died after falling from a bedroom window at his Shepherd’s Bush home on May 12 last year.

His partner Teresa Marshall de Paoli, a former model, found him, the inquest has previously heard.

Asked by assistant coroner for west London, Dr Anton van Dellen, when he last saw his grandfather, Viscount Savernake said: “I think it was a week before his death.

“I had been visiting every week for the previous five or six years.”

Asked by John Moore, representing Ms Marshall de Paoli, why he increased how often he visited his grandfather, Viscount Savernake said on Friday: “I began to be concerned that various family members were taking advantage of him.”

The court heard Mr Brudenell-Bruce had suffered with depression and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia in March 2021.

He had suicidal ideation in December 2008, the court heard, following the stock market crash and he and his partner’s move from Savernacke Forest, Wiltshire, to London.

Mr Brudenell-Bruce’s daughter Kathryn Brudenell-Bruce told the inquest that late 2008 was the only time she saw her father “seriously depressed”.

The coroner asked both Ms Brudenell-Bruce and Viscount Savernake if they had ever had any concerns that Ms Marshall de Paoli might physically harm Mr Brudenell-Bruce, to which both witnesses said no.

Dr Claudia Wald, a psychiatrist who assessed Mr Brudenell-Bruce in July 2022, said Mr Brudenell-Bruce had spoken at the appointment about being nervous in his partner’s company, and that he “had to walk on eggshells for fear she might ask him to leave his home and never come back”.

Dr Wald said: “He was also able to comment that when he was in the company of other family members he was a lot more happy.”

Ms Brudenell-Bruce told the inquest: “I think Pa was content there (at home with Ms Marshall de Paoli).

“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.”

Joanne Chubb, a housekeeper and friend of the couple, told the hearing she had been at their west London home on the afternoon of Mr Brudenell-Bruce’s death.

Ms Chubb said she had been ironing in the kitchen, and then took the shirts upstairs and saw Mr Brudenell-Bruce, who 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, who had been writing in the sitting room, about it because “it was a hot and humid day”.

She told the court Mr Brudenell-Bruce had been the “same as always” and “chatty as normal” in the weeks prior to his death, that he had been able to walk independently and had “very strong hands”.

The inquest continues.