Prince of Wales leads tributes to goddaugher Tara Palmer-Tomkinson

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, a former London socialite and the god-daughter of the Prince of Wales, has died at the age of 45.

She had been diagnosed with a brain tumour last year and was found at her London flat unresponsive today.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “Police were called by London Ambulance Service at approximately 13:40hrs on Wednesday February 8 to an address in Bramham Gardens, SW5.

“A woman, aged in her 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene.

“At this early stage, the death is being treated as unexplained.

IN PICTURES: The uniquely colourful style of Tara Palmer-Tomkinson through the years

“We are not treating this death as suspicious. The coroner has been informed and the next of kin has been informed.”

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall released a statement in which they said they were “deeply saddened and our thoughts are so much with the family.”

Palmer-Tomkinson appeared on reality TV series I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2002 and came second, as well as several other TV shows including celebrity specials of Blind Date and A Place In The Sun.

She revealed in November that she was being treated for a non-malignant growth in her pituitary gland and had expressed fears that she would die after being told of her condition by doctors.

She told the Daily Mail: “I went to the doctors to talk about my latest blood test results when I got back from skiing in January. I said: ‘What does this mean? Can you translate it?’ And the doctor said: ‘As I suspected, you have a brain tumour’.

“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.”

At the time, Palmer-Tomkinson, who has battled drug problems in the past, also revealed that was suffering with an auto-immune disease which had caused tiredness, joint pain and acute anaemia.

In 2014 she quit the reality show The Jump before it even started and said she had become a recluse after suffering a nervous breakdown.

She also opened up about her battle with drug addiction on ITV show Jeremy Kyle: The Celebrity Specials.

She broke down in tears as she recalled the night she nearly died from an overdose during her battle with cocaine addiction.

She said: “I remember timing my heart because I knew it was going to stop and I remember my telephone was (a few metres away) … I remember crawling on my hands and knees to pick up the phone and call … and then I woke up in hospital.

“I think that was the night I had an overdose. I have never attempted suicide … I think it was a cry for help.”

She eventually quit drugs following a 35-day stint in an Arizona rehab clinic, but returned nine years later when she thought she was having a nervous breakdown.

She said: “The reasons I went were private, the reasons I went were that I believed that I was having a nervous breakdown because I was so frightened of this British press, of these paparazzi who went through my rubbish, who led me to believe that every chimney sound or thunderstorm was a paparazzi attack and I couldn’t deal with it and I still can’t deal with it.

Most people think that when you relapse that you have to take a substance. I have seen a therapist every single week for the last 11 years of my life, I don’t need to relapse on a substance. I can relapse and it just means my brain is overdosing into a way that I just can’t cope and, you know what, I may not be perfect but parts of me are awesome!”

The former IT girl said: “I am a recluse … I get terribly anxious going out, I’ve only been out (in the evenings) three times this year … I haven’t worked for two years.”

Tributes have begun flooding in for the star.