Tara Palmer Tomkinson Death Cause: How Did Prince Charles' God Daughter And Former 'It Girl' Die?

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Prince Charles' god daughter, socialite and self-confessed "It girl" of her generation, was found dead at the age of 45 at her London flat on Wednesday.

Palmer-Tomkinson had been battling with a brain tumour and an auto-immune disease since last January. Doctors discovered a growth in her pituitary gland which was non-malignant but was affecting the production of hormone prolactin. After a long period of ill-health, she was declared dead at 13:40 GMT (8:40 a.m. EST) Wednesday at her flat in Bramham Gardens, South Kensington, London, the Metropolitan Police confirmed.

Prince Charles said he was "deeply saddened" over Palmer-Tomkinson's death, a close family friend. Prince of Wales and wife the Duchess of Cornwall said: "[We are] deeply saddened and our thoughts are so much with the family."

Palmer-Tomkinson's parents, Charles and Patricia have been close friends of Prince Charles and the royal family. Former Sunday Times columnist and reality TV star, Palmer-Tomkinson was pictured playing with the young Princes William and Harry on a 1994 trip to Balmoral. She had also attended William's marriage to Kate Middleton in 2011.

The former socialite had also battled a high-profile cocaine addiction, which she discussed publicly on a number of occasions. In 2016, she had said: "That's always their [press] take on it... cocaine. That was so many years ago. But not many people can contemplate Tara's life without it. I've gone completely the other way. I'm a very quiet person now, and I like being that person. I have a better perspective on life."

After she was diagnosed with brain tumour last January, citing her fears of death she had said "I got terribly frightened. I started thinking, 'I'm going to die, I'm going to die. I've only got a couple of weeks to live.' Stuff like that."

One of her friends, also a socialite and reality TV star, Tamara Beckwith said: "The terribly sad news of my old friend Tara PT's passing has come as quite a shock. She was a shining light and I have nothing but very fond memories of the times we had together. She was most definitely one of life's true characters. My thoughts are naturally with her family."