Prince William's friend and Big Brother UK star Ben Duncan fell from a 100-foot hotel rooftop in London, died at 45

Big Brother UK fame Ben Duncan, who is also a friend of royal couple Prince William and Kate Middleton, tragically died in London aged 45 after falling from the rooftop of a 100-foot building at a hotel in London on the evening of Thursday, 30 October 2025. A spokesperson said:

The man sadly fell from height. Despite the best efforts from the London Ambulance service, he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene. His death is unexpected but non-suspicious

Ben Duncan was a socialite and a reality star, and a university classmate of Kate Middleton and Prince William, as they all attended the University of St. Andrews in Scotland at the same time. He went on to feature on reality television and shows, especially on Big Brother UK season 11 in 2010.

How did the Big Brother UK contestant die

Ben Duncan, who starred in Big Brother UK season 11, died after falling off seven floors from the rooftop bar of the Trafalgar St. James hotel, as the cops said. Reports were received of a man present on the roof, so the cops were called to the luxury hotel. A Police spokesperson said:

Officers responded to concerns for a man on the roof of a building in Cockspur Street, Westminster at 23:02 hours on Thursday, 30 October.

Broadcaster Mike Hollingsworth wrote on Facebook, "My dear, dear friend Benjamin (Ben) Duncan has left us. He lived life as Peter Pan - the boy who never grew up. He will be sorely missed by his many, many friends, who grew to love his charm, his wit, his infectious laugh, and his innate sense of style. The world is a poorer place for his passing. RIP Benji."

He entered the house of Big Brother UK, admitting that he had no idea about the show, claiming he was looking for a way out of doing a nine-to-five job. However, he lasted long enough in the show, eventually getting evicted after surviving more than half of the journey on Day 52.

He was the sixth housemate to get eliminated from season 11 of Big Brother, which was eventually won by Josie Gibson.

He later went on to feature in other reality shows as well, after getting evicted from Big Brother UK, such as Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me and Celebrity Coach Trip, in addition to the Australian series, Ladette To Lady.

As Ben Duncan attended St. Andrews University, he was a friend of William, Prince of Wales, and Kate Middleton when they first started dating. He was reportedly part of the royal couple’s inner circle. There are rumors that he was actually in the room the day that the two met.

In November 2010, Ben Duncan said:

Because we'd had Will and Kate in our midst we had royal protection officers swarming the place. We knew that they had hit it off and we knew that something was happening, but they were just left alone to get on with it.

Ben Duncan was also present at the fashion event on their college campus, where Prince William saw Kate and was attracted to her, as Duncan says:

It was the end of their first year. I was there, and in person there were a lot of attractive girls. She was in a very daring dress, in a sheer stocking-like dress. He was sitting front row and his eyes were like stalks.

She brushed by him on the way to the catwalk and things were never the same again - the whole history of the monarchy had been altered.

A London Ambulance spokesperson said on his death that:

We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer, paramedics in fast response cars and paramedics from our hazardous area response team (HART).

Stay tuned for more updates.