Prince William and, Kate's friend dies after falling from a building

Prince William and Kate Middleton's  former university friend died after falling from the roof of a hotel in London, according to the local media.

According to express.co.uk, the 45-year-old Ben Duncan died on Thursday when he fell from the roof of London's Trafalgar St. James hotel.

He was found dead after Metropolitan Police arrived on the soon to investigate reports of a "man on the roof," the outlet reported.

Speaking to Daily Mail, a 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."

"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."

A London Ambulance service spokesperson also said: "We were called at 10:59pm on Thursday 30 October to reports of an incident on Spring Gardens, City of Westminster.

According to the British media, Ben was at St Andrews University with Prince William and Kate Middleton when they first started dating and was said to be part of their inner circle.

He was one of the first friends to know about Kate and William's budding relationship. 

Quoting him from an interview in 2010 express.co.uk wrote, "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."

Prince William, who is on an official visit to Brazil, was in the UK, when Ben Duncan died on Thursday. The Prince of Wales arrived in Brazil on Monday for his Earthshot Prize award ceremony.

Neither William nor Kate have publicly commented on the death of their former friend.