THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF CAMILLA'S BROTHER MARK SHAND

Posted by George Freund on April 26, 2014

There are sudden deaths that rival the greatest of the mystery writer's abilities. One last week surely fits the case. It was the death of Camilla of Parker Bowles fame's brother Mark Strand aged 62. In a mysterious twist of fate he was leaving a party which was alleged to be the greatest day in his life. It was the last day of his life as well. He was done in by a revolving door at the Gramercy Park Hotel's Rose Bar In Manhattan. My Columbo bones are a boil with the absurdity of the matter. How could someone actually come in contact with a door used with no unforeseen consequences for many long years and actually get killed? It is a long convoluted tale, but one that must be told because the writer of the mystery may very well have seeded the outcome. He was Alfred Hitchcock. He authored many fine tales of the bizarre over the years. His TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents coined the phrase Alfred Hitchcock Presents showed how rotten respectable people could be. It is a strange irony because the woman he was staying with in New York was an attractive model in the company of the master Alfred along with the likes of Andy Warhol. She was identified as Barbara Allen Kwiatkowska. She once asked the master what was the best murder weapon?

The answer was not made clear, but in his show 'Lamb to the Slaughter' it was one that could not be readily identified as such. How could a mere door that revolves ever be expected to be used as an instrument in the demise of a famous person. There are several cases though where injury was sustained. One was even in Manhattan. A 91 year old woman had fallen and broken her hip at the Jumeirah Essex House. The master would have been impressed. 

Mark with his sister Camilla

It all started Tuesday April 22nd at a charity event for Elephant Family Mark's effort to protect the Asian elephant. It included a Faberge egg hunt with an auction fundraising that raised $1 million at Sotheby's. The event moved to the Diamond Horseshoe for an after party and then to the Gramercy Park Hotel's Rose Bar where the incident occurred in the early morning hours of the 23rd. Mr. Shand was the life of the party revelling in dance and drink. He was taking the usual cardiac medications the press termed a cocktail of blood pressure medications. The side effects of same can cause dizziness and more. They are not meant to be mixed with copious amounts of alcohol. His smoking habit would counteract the effect narrowing blood vessels the drugs are trying to open. It was a recipe for disaster. 

The 'crime' scene

There are two distinct story lines on the event. The most commonly accepted one is that Mark took a smoke break and went out to the street with his hands in his pockets; he lost his balance going through the revolving door crashing into the sidewalk fracturing his skull. Another version had him hitting a tree. A third version said he was leaving for the night. It all happened at 2:30 a.m. An ambulance was called and they waited until the police arrived at 02:50 to remove the body. He must have been obviously deceased if they waited crucial moments to get permission to do that. Regardless something smells rotten in Manhattan. Our man Shand was a notorious womanizer. What if one of them took the mating game a little more serious than others? Then we could have a mystery worthy of the master.

Ruth Powys and Mark. The secret love seems a bit distant.

At the function Mark's 'secret' love and CEO of his Elephant trust was in attendance. They were rumoured to have been an item since Mark's divorce from his wife Clio in 2009. Perhaps they were an item prior to the breakup as well. She is Ruth Powys. She started with the trust in 2004. She has a prior arrest record dating from 1997 relating to a protest of Virgin Cola's exploitative advertising. Her twin sister Mary is also working for the Elephant trust. In a statement she said, "We were not together at this moment." She didn't attend the last session at the Rose Bar. She was at the dinner and the after party event. There is speculation that Mark was under the spell of another woman Nancy Dell'Olio described in some press accounts as a 'maneater.'

Nancy Dell'Olio

I would anticipate the average male would last less than ten seconds in resisting the 'maneater.' I would suspect the fiancee would last even less before the pots and pans flew in his general direction. Mark denied any romance with Nancy. He said, "I am more likely to have an affair with a ripe pomegranate! And I am very fond of pomegranates." Well that some pair of pomegranates. His choice of words probably didn't win his case with Ruth. 

Album cover girl Barbara. We can see why Mark needs heart pills.

Mark was staying in New York with another female friend Barbara Allen Kwiatkowska. She was a model in the late 70's being the cover girl on the album “The Bride Stripped Bare.” Well somebody's got to do it I guess. She was involved with Andy Warhol and saw the light when she met Mark. She asked Hitchcock the million dollar question. She could have had access to his meds as well if we desired mystery. She only attended the dinner because someone offered her a ride home. I guess it's hard to get a cab in Manhattan after midnight when they roll up the sidewalks. We are left to wonder what the master would have answered with regard to the best murder weapon question. I'm sure we can surmise it would be the one that wouldn't ever be considered one like a common revolving door. We haven't seen the surveillance video, but we wonder if Mark was alone or was there another person using it too. Smoking is usually a social occasion especially at a party. 

They say where there's a will there's a way. We wonder if another person pulled a trick like this? It most likely wouldn't kill him, but it could knock him to the ground where the sidewalk could finish him off. I don't think even the great Hitchcock could have crafted such a thought. Maybe no one ever has, but it is hard to believe Mark died in this fall. To fracture the skull you would generally have to pile drive into the sidewalk. That would imply a loss of consciousness. Mark was known to drink to excess. Another femme fatale who called him the gentleman Tarzan said so. Combined with the drug cocktail, that may have done it. 

Marie says she and Shand would spend whole weekends in bed: making love, drinking champagne, eating pasta, watching movies and then making love all over again

The plot gets more interesting with the fact that Mark's wife was the niece of billionaire Sir James Goldsmith. That means nothing to almost everyone except the Royal family because he was close to Frances Shand Kydd Princess Diana's mother. The rumour mill has implied that Frances was in trouble in her marriage around the time Diana was born and Sir James may very well be her father. That would sure mess up the gene pool, and if you noticed her surname matches Mark's and another famous character known for action on the high seas Captain William Kidd notorious pirate. There is another William Kyd pirate in the 15th century.



Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, ca. 1920 painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

There may be more to Skull & Bones than we have been lead to believe. The bloodlines of the monarchy may not be so pure as they are touted to be. Diana died with a great secret on her lips that put her in fear of her life and most likely provided the cause to end it. Was she a bastard child? Was the Royal family hoodwinked? Are the Spencers really in the broth? Dead men tell no tales and another one has bit the dust. Was there a conspiracy in the death of Mark Shand? Could a mysterious hand have arranged his fall in Hitchcock style? Could a jilted love flame had the nerve to do it? Are there pirates out for the Elephant Family funds? Alfred Hitchcock Presents was seen in company with the Twilight Zone. In some episode in another dimension of time and space is there a woman trapped in a revolving door for eternity unable to escape?