Alex Salmond's final moments as he 'collapsed into arms of colleague'
Alex Salmond died on Saturday while attending a lunch at a political conference in North Macedonia.
Alex Salmond final moments have been revealed after Scotland's former First Minister died at the age of 69 on Saturday.
The ex-SNP leader was attending a lunch at a political conference in North Macedonia when he was suddenly taken ill.
Mark Donfried, director of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, was in the room with Mr Salmond and immediately called an ambulance.
He said: "He was here the last few days, he gave excellent participation two days ago at the panel discussion.
"He was really in the best of spirits, the best of health, and I was sitting across from him at lunch yesterday when all of a sudden he just went out and fell into the arms of a colleague of mine on the other side of the table. I immediately got up and ran to call an ambulance and when I came back, he was on the floor."
Just hours before his death, Salmond spoke during a panel session at the diplomacy forum.
Speaking on the Scottish independence referendum back in 2014, he said: "I think the worst excess of the entire referendum campaign of 10 years ago was that someone got an egg thrown at them, which is hardly in the great excesses of politics."
He added: "My general message is respect for legitimate democratic aspirations leads to good outcomes. Disrespecting it, in one way or another... can lead to bad outcomes for everyone."
Salmond hypothesised that had Scotland became independent, Prime Minister at the time, David Cameron, may have resigned and Brexit might not have happened.
Alex Salmond was the leader of the SNP on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. He served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014.
After years of fighting for Scottish independence, Salmond resigned as first minister following the 2014 referendum resulting in a 55% to 45% vote to stay in the UK.
Following this, he launched his rival Scottish independence party, Alba, in 2021 which challenged the SNP on its failure to deliver a second referendum.
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