Princess Beatrice’s ex-boyfriend Paolo Liuzzo’s cause of death has been revealed after he was found dead in a hotel room in February of this year.
An autopsy report shows that the 41-year-old died after overdosing on a combination of drugs including fentanyl, cocaine, ketamine and the street drug bromazolam (a synthetic benzo).
Liuzzo, who was just 23 when he dated the royal aged 17, was found dead in a Miami hotel room not far away from his listed address.
Sources at the time said he had suffered from a drug problem and had racked up huge gambling debts.
The report obtained by the Daily Mail said that he had died of ” acute combined drug toxicity” and stated “police impounded extensive drug paraphernalia from the scene.”
His body was flown back to his family in Long Island, New York, for a funeral on February 16.
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Speaking to The Sun, a friend of Liuzzo admitted: “Paolo was not doing great on a personal level. He loved to party and gamble.
“He began using a lot of pharmaceutical drugs but that later led to cocaine and harder drugs.
“It was a very fast lifestyle and we all feared it would catch up with him eventually.”
The friend added: “He was always borrowing money to pay loans. It became a vicious cycle.”
Before his relationship with Princess Beatrice, he had been arrested for manslaugter
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Before his relationship with Beatrice, Liuzzo had been arrested for manslaughter due to the fist-fight death of a student in Massachusetts.
The charge got downgraded to assault and battery and he served 100 hours of community service.
Speaking about this after serving his time, Paolo said: “It was a stupid fist fight and if I had gone to trial, my lawyers were certain I’d have been found innocent.
“But if it came out that me and Bea were dating, it wouldn’t be good for her image or Sarah’s so everyone was trying to keep our relationship a secret.”
At the time Sarah Ferguson shared her support for the relationship
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He was also arrested in 2009 for crashing his Audi hire car into traffic lights. He pleaded guilty to motoring offences, fraud and cocaine possession and was fined £2,600.
Despite the age gap and the arrests, Beatrice’s mother, Sarah Ferguson, expressed her support for the relationship at the time.
She said: “We all have our own journeys and have to learn our way but Beatrice is a sensible girl, soon to be 18, with many friends, including Paolo.”
Beatrice is now married to property tycoon Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and the pair share a two-year-old daughter named Sienna.