The granddaughter of Bobby Kennedy has been found dead at a home on the family estate in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, following an apparent overdose.

Saoirse Kennedy Hill, 22, was the daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy’s fifth child, Courtney, and Paul Michael Hill, one of the Guildford Four, who were wrongly imprisoned for the bombing of two pubs by the Irish Republican Army in 1974.

In a statement released to local media the Kennedy family said: “Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse.

“The world is a little less beautiful today.”

Emergency services were called to the Kennedy estate on Thursday afternoon “for a reported unattended death”.

Hill was rushed to Cape Cod hospital in Hyannis where she was pronounced dead.

While at high school Saoirse Kennedy Hill had written about her struggles with mental illness following what she said was a sexual assault by someone she “knew and loved”.

“My depression took root in the beginning of my middle school years and will be with me for the rest of my life,” she wrote.

“Although I was mostly a happy child, I suffered bouts of deep sadness that felt like a heavy boulder on my chest.”

Saoirse’s death is the latest tragedy to hit the Kennedy family, often regarded as the American equivalent of royalty.

Her grandfather Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, as was his brother President John F Kennedy.

The president’s son, John F. Kennedy Jr., was killed in 1999 when the airplane he was flying crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s Vineyard; his wife and sister-in-law were on board and were also killed.

Saoirse’s uncle, David Anthony Kennedy, was found dead in a Florida hotel in 1984 after years of struggling with alcohol and drug addiction.

And last month marked the 50th anniversary of Chappaquiddick, when 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne drowned after a car driven by Senator Edward Kennedy went off a bridge on a small island next to Martha’s Vineyard.

:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email [email protected] in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.

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