UK newsOpen verdict on relative of Diana
A coroner recorded an open verdict at the inquest on Princess Diana's stepbrother yesterday after a pathologist gave evidence that the reasons for his death remained a mystery.
Adam Shand Kydd, 49, from London, was discovered dead on his bed in a flat in Cambodia in April this year. A published author and keen historian, he had travelled to Phnom Penh a month earlier to further his writing career.
The Cambodian authorities said he had died of an overdose after police found empty packets of painkillers, sleeping pills and a Viagra substitute in his room. But yesterday Paul Knapman, the Westminster coroner, said that the authorities' investigation had left "something to be desired".
No post-mortem tests were carried out overseas and Shand Kydd's body was embalmed before it was returned to the UK, hampering attempts to find the cause of death and clarify his drug levels, the hearing was told.
Shand Kydd, the son of Peter Shand Kydd, the wallpaper millionaire, was described as a "lover of good company". In 1984 he had a novel published - Happy Trails - which had good reviews. "He was a voracious reader with a huge knowledge of military history, and a lover of good company and conversation," said the coroner's officer, Roy Campbell.
Educated at Stowe, Shand Kydd spent part of his childhood on an Australian sheep farm with his father. In 1968, Peter Shand Kydd divorced his wife, Janet, and married Diana's mother, Frances.
Giving evidence yesterday Peter Wilkins, a pathologist, said Shand Kydd had suffered from high blood pressure, which had given him an enlarged heart. He had had coronary artery disease.
Dr Knapman said: "It is not clear whether this has been some form of abusive drugs, suicide, accident, or indeed natural causes."
Valium strips with 94 pills missing were found in the flat, along with painkillers and a kamagra, a version of Viagra.
A statement from Eric Huang, Shand Kydd's GP in Britain, stated that he had been on drugs for high blood pressure but was not known to have any history of drugs misuse.
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