Miles Frost died from a rare genetic heart condition, his family have confirmed. The eldest son of Sir David Frost collapsed and died during a morning run near the family's holiday home in Oxfordshire in July, at the age of 31.
Now it has been confirmed that the financier died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a congenital heart defect that can lead to sudden death if left untreated.
© Photo: Getty ImagesMiles Frost died aged 31 from a genetic heart condition
Writing in the Sunday Times magazine, Miles' younger brothers Wilfred and George revealed that their father David was found to have the condition after he passed away from a heart attack in 2013.
Sir David's sons weren't told that their father had developed the condition, so were unaware that they each had a 50 per cent chance of inheriting HCM – which could have been tested and treated appropriately had they known.
"The condition that Miles suffered from was unidentified until his death," they wrote. "HCM is a genetic condition caused by a change or mutation in one or more genes, and is passed on through families."
They added: "Dad did not die from HCM, but it transpires that his post-mortem showed that the condition was present, although he didn't know it.
© Photo: Getty ImagesMiles and his brothers George and Wilfred were not aware of their father's heart condition
"Sadly, this was not flagged up to us; thus Miles, George and I were not tested two years ago, as we should have been. Clearly, this adds to the agony relating to Miles's death."
Miles was said to have appeared fit and healthy in the weeks leading up to his death, with no sign of health problems. The tragedy came just two years after his father Sir David passed away aged 74, after suffering a heart attack on board the Queen Elizabeth cruise liner.
Miles was the eldest child of the broadcasting legend and his wife Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard. He and his two younger brothers Wilfred, 28, and 29-year-old George - to whom he was very close - were all educated at Eton College. Miles went on to become a founding partner of the private equity group Frost Brooks. "Miles was a wonderful eldest son who was very well loved by all his friends and family," Lord Chadlington, a family friend of the Frosts told the Daily Mail at the time. "The Frost family are extremely close and they will all miss him terribly, as we all will. It is hard to lose a loved one at any age, but 31 really is difficult to comprehend."
