King Charles’ longtime friend Ian Farquhar was found dead at home by his carer after struggling to breathe, an inquest heard.

The renowned huntsman, 78, was discovered at 1.10 pm on March 6 after the alarm was raised.

At the time, he was described as living on the monarch’s Highgrove Estate. The inquest heard he lived near Chippenham, in Wiltshire.

He was also the Queen Mother’s equerry and even served in the Queen’s Own Hussars, a cavalry regiment of the British Army.

Yesterday Wiltshire Police said: ‘There are no suspicious circumstances.’

An inquest at Salisbury, Wiltshire, was told a post mortem examination had showed Ian Walter Farquhar died from postural asphyxia.

This is when the way the person is positioned prevents them from breathing properly.

People may die from this accidentally, when the mouth and nose are blocked, or where the chest may be unable to fully expand.

Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, first husband and friend of Camilla, told the Mail’s Richard Eden that the situation was ‘very sad’ and that he had been in poor health for the past few months.

He described his friend as ‘wild as a hawk in his youth, but always great fun’. Parker Bowles added that ‘The Captain’, as Farquhar was known, will be ‘judged by history as one of the great Masters of Hounds’.

Farquhar and Charles became intertwined further when Prince William briefly dated Rose Farquhar in 2000 after he finished his A-levels at Eton.