Camilla Parker Bowles' Brother Mark Shand Dies In New York After Head Injury

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The brother-in-law of the Prince of Wales died Wednesday after falling outside a Manhattan hotel bar and suffering a head injury, police said.

Mark Shand, the brother of Prince Charles' wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, was in New York for Sotheby's Faberge Egg Final Auction. The event was raising money for Elephant Family, an organization Shand co-founded to help save the endangered Asian elephant, CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez reported.

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Shand, 62, attended an after-party at the Diamond Horseshoe nightclub and then continued his night out at the Gramercy Park Hotel's Rose Bar, arriving with a relative just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, police said. Around 2:30 a.m., he went outside to smoke a cigarette and fell backward as he tried to re-enter through a revolving door, police told The Associated Press.

He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:25 a.m., police said. The cause of his death will be determined by the medical examiner's office.

NYPD detectives were at the Gramercy Park Hotel on Wednesday afternoon, taking a look at the locations of security cameras. A worker at a building across the street said detectives had asked if the building had any security video, which it didn't.

A call to the hotel's representatives was not immediately returned.

Shand was known for his work as a travel writer and conservationist. He was the author of several books including "Elephant Tales" and "River Dog: A Journey Down the Brahmaputra."

British royal officials at Clarence House said in a statement that Camilla, Prince Charles and all of her family members are "utterly devastated by this sudden and tragic loss."

"Mark Shand was a man of extraordinary vitality, a tireless campaigner and conservationist whose incredible work through The Elephant Family and beyond remained his focus right up until his death," it said.

Sotheby's said it was "deeply saddened" by the news of Shand's death and it was honored to have helped him raise money for his causes.

Camilla and Charles are due to go on a tour of Canada next month.

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