Duchess Camilla’s distant cousin found dead aged 59 | Celebrities

Camilla’s distant cousin, the Duchess of Cornwall, reportedly committed suicide.

Charles Villiers, 59, whose late mother was a cousin of the 75-year-old royal, was found dead after becoming bankrupt in one of the longest divorce proceedings in British history.

His body was discovered by a housekeeper in a room at the £300-a-night Durrants Hotel in London’s affluent Marylebone area.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the London Ambulance Service reported a body in a hotel on George Street in west London on August 18.

The death is being investigated but is not being treated as suspicious.

They said: “A man in his 50s was found dead at the scene.

“At the moment, the man’s death is considered unexpected. She is under investigation and does not arouse suspicion.”

Charles, who worked in publishing, was left broke by exorbitant divorce bills and his house was repossessed in 2015.

He split from ex-wife Emma Villiers in 2012 and filed for divorce in 2014.

Disagreements between the couple over where child support hearings should take place caused the case to drag on for eight years.

Charles wanted the hearing to take place in Scotland, as they have lived together for almost three decades as a married couple in an estate near Dumbarton.

However, Emma wanted the hearing to take place in England.

It is argued that she would have received a much larger settlement in England.

She asked for £3.5 million in damages.

However, last year the High Court ruled that Charles could not pay child support due to financial difficulties, and both parties have been “psychologically damaged” by the case.

It didn’t end there though, the Court of Appeal overturned it and Charles was forced to pay Emma £10,000 a year.

A year earlier he had become engaged to singer Heidi Innes, 45, but the relationship ended after she accused him of failing to pay his rent on the £18,000-a-month cottage they shared.

Charles found himself homeless and ended up crashing on the sofa of old friend Philippa Snowdon, who remembered Charles as “charming” and admitted she believed he did everything he could to make sure his death caused her “no pain”.

The 80-year-old told The Times: “He was charming, he liked to help people and he was the perfect guest.

“The divorce was terrible and upset him a lot, and what worried him the most was losing contact with his daughter.

“He was so attentive to the very last that he carefully arranged the manner of his death so as not to cause me pain.”