As a ‘wealthy’ university friend of Prince William, Ben Duncan found TV fame and seemingly had it all. But when he fell 100 feet to his death from a luxury London hotel, it soon became apparent all was not as it seemed….

DAILYMAIL.COM • 1h ago

By ADAM POGRUND, REPORTER 17:04 11 Oct 2026, updated 17:04 11 Oct 2026

Ben Duncan appeared to have everything going for him – a lucrative property portfolio, social connections that reached from the London party scene to the Royal Family, and the enviable lifestyle of a fashionable man about town.

The 45-year-old lived in a chic flat in Pimlico, and had carved out a successful television career which in turn saw him invited to an array of glamorous champagne events which he duly attended.

Mr Duncan had been university associates of both Prince William and Kate Middleton at St Andrews before an appearance on Big Brother proved the launch pad for that successful media career.

But when he was found dead last October after plunging 100ft from the rooftop of the £1,000-a-night Trafalgar St James hotel in London, it was not a complete shock to those who knew him well: Mr Duncan had been struggling with depression for some time.

In the aftermath of his death, he was repeatedly described as the life and soul of any party but, behind the socialite facade, his mental health had been deteriorating, particularly following the deaths of a number of his friends in quick succession.

And when the dust settled after his sudden death and the trustees of his estate began to examine his assets more closely, it would turn out that his wealth, after all the debts were paid, was just £90,000.

That was the net sum left in Mr Duncan’s estate, which went in its entirety to his mother, having been reduced from an initial gross sum £220,000 once outstanding debts and expenses were settled.

While for most people this would still amount to a significant sum, it shows that he was significantly less well off than he presented himself to be to the powerful VIP figures he would party with: he had counted politician-turned-broadcaster Michael Portillo, legendary socialite Nicky Haslam and – before his recent public disgrace – US ambassador Peter Mandelson as friends.

The privately-educated television star, who befriended the royal couple while at St Andrews from 2001 to 2005, had been increasingly concerned about his finances after property investments in Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle failed to turn a profit.

A number of unsuccessful investments had taken their toll on his finances and he was further frustrated personally at his career trajectory and more broadly by the state of the country, it’s understood.

The man who gave an insight into Mr Duncan’s mindset in the weeks and months leading up to his death was the veteran broadcaster Mike Hollingsworth, with whom the star was so close he described him as a second father.

Mr Hollingsworth returned the compliment, describing Ben as ‘another son’.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘I think Ben was slightly naive when it came to owning property. And I think he probably invested rather badly, and that was what was troubling him at the time of his death.

‘He had a lot of property in the north, and he lived in London. So he had to trust other people to look after it and I think that troubled him a lot because he kept getting calls from people telling him he needed to pay for various things.

‘I got the idea that he wished he hadn’t gone into property. It just wasn’t his shtick. He wasn’t a business-minded individual. He was very creative and very fond of people, but not so fond of the business life.’

The retired broadcaster, 80, who was once married to breakfast TV star Anne Diamond, developed a close relationship with Mr Duncan after first meeting in 2010. He later became his agent.

And just ten days before his death he received a call from Mr Duncan, who told him he was feeling suicidal and wanted to say goodbye.

Mr Hollingsworth rushed to his hotel and ‘talked him out of it’ – but it plainly wasn’t a permanent fix. Ben would be found dead just ten days later.

Mr Hollingsworth, who also represented other TV presenters including Kirsty Young and Donal MacIntyre, said Ben’s fear of ageing had contributed to his depression and in his final years he struggled with insomnia and became increasingly reclusive.

He went on: ‘He was a Peter Pan figure and I think it depressed him to be getting older. He was young at heart. When he died he was 45 but people would think he was in his 30s.

‘It was the feeling of getting older that troubled him. He had the most magnificent head of hair but he was worried in the morning when he would comb it and hair would come out.

‘That was a sign of ageing but whenever you met him he looked the same as when you last saw him, he never seemed to age.’

But his body was catching up with him and he found sleeping increasingly challenging.

‘He found it very difficult to get up in the morning.

‘There was a joke that was made at his funeral,’ said Mr Hollingsworth. ‘That it was probably the first time he arrived anywhere on time’.

Mr Duncan also felt increasingly dissatisfied with his career, his friend explained.

He first gained public attention in 2010 after appearing on Channel 4’s Big Brother where he was depicted as ‘posh’ in contrast to Bristol-born Josie Gibson, who went on to win the show.

Mr Duncan also appeared on numerous reality shows including Celebrity Coach Trip, Come Dine With Me and ITV’s Ladette To Lady, and later presented a number of programmes including More Than A Mistress.

While at St Andrews he was present at the famous moment when Kate Middleton dazzled as a model in a university fashion show, famously credited for capturing William’s attention.

And he was seen as an authority on the British Royal Family by international broadcasters who were enthralled by his accent and supposedly upper class charm.

Mr Duncan was consequently hired to broadcast on royal weddings and funerals for foreign audiences.

But he found television opportunities in the UK were increasingly harder to come by.

‘People perceived him as a posh boy and a man about Mayfair,’ said Mr Hollingsworth. ‘But the posh boy voice slightly worked against him in ordinary life.

‘His Oxbridge pronunciation didn’t quite suit broadcasting these days and that really got to him because there were fewer jobs.

‘His voice probably deceived a lot of people as to how he might respond to them. He made lots of friends in all sorts of different walks of life. One time he saw a woman sleeping on the street and made room for her in his flat. He was that sort of person.

‘I think he could have done an awful lot more on television. He would light up a room with his personality, was hugely versed in politics and was extremely well read. I think he could have been a Jacob Rees-Mogg sort of figure.’

Mr Duncan’s accent was far from the only characteristic he shared with the Conservative MP. He was also a passionate Brexiteer and tried to become a Tory election candidate.

He told friends he was fed up with the state of the country and was depressed at how Brexit wasn’t working as well as he had hoped.

Mr Hollingsworth added: ‘He was very unhappy at the way the country had gone. I think he would rather have been born much earlier because he was a perfect individual for the 1950s or 1960s and that’s why he associated with a lot of older people, because he liked to talk about how life used to be.’

Mr Duncan was upset at what he perceived as Britain’s desertion of the Commonwealth and campaigned for closer ties with former colonies.

His financial career and political frustrations were compounded by the death of a number of friends in the years before his own.

He was very attached to Dame Jilly Cooper, the famous ‘bonkbuster’ author, and they frequently wrote long letters to each other.

She died just three weeks before Mr Duncan.

As well as the emotional damage, their deaths also reminded him he was getting older himself, it’s believed.

Mr Duncan fell to his death from the rooftop bar of the five-star hotel on October 30 last year.

On Monday his family interred his ashes next to where his late father is buried. An inquest into his death will begin on December 8.

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