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Saoirse Kennedy Hill, the granddaughter of assassinated presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy, has died, BBC reports.

Emergency services were called to the Kennedy residence in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts on Thursday. The 22 year old was pronounced dead at Cape Cod Hospital.

She was the daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's fifth child, Courtney.

The Kennedy family has seen a number of tragedies including the assassination of Saoirse's grandfather in 1968.

Robert - brother of President John F Kennedy - was himself running for the presidency when he was murdered.

"Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise and love," the family said in a statement.

A statement from her grandmother added: "The world is a little less beautiful today."

No further details about her death have been released, although US media report she died of an apparent overdose.

The 22-year-old was a communications major at Boston College, according to the New York Times, and had suffered from depression.

"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 in a student newspaper in 2016.