THE 22-year-old granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy has died at the Kennedy compound in the US state of Massachusetts, the family said in a statement.

The woman, identified by the family as Saoirse Kennedy Hill, was the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill, the fifth of 11 children born to the late New York senator and his wife Ethel, The New York Times reported.

"Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse," the family said.

"Her life was filled with hope, promise and love. She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel."

Hyannis Fire Captain Greg Dardia told Fox News that paramedics responded to a medical call at 28 Marchant Ave on Thursday around 2.30pm local time.

Ms Hill was taken to Cape Cod Hospital in an unknown condition. It is not clear whether she died at the hospital or at the property.

Boston 25 News, citing a law enforcement source, reported that Hill died from a suspected drug overdose.

"Earlier this afternoon Barnstable Police responded to a residence on Marchant Ave in Hyannis Port for a reported unattended death," Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Tara Miltimore said in a statement.

"The matter remains under investigation by Barnstable Police and State Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office."

In a 2016 opinion piece for Deerfield Scroll, the student newspaper for the Deerfield Academy boarding school, Ms Hill wrote about her bouts with 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.

"Although I was mostly a happy child, I suffered bouts of deep sadness that felt like a heavy boulder on my chest. These bouts would come and go, but they did not outwardly affect me until I was a new sophomore at Deerfield."

Ms Hill's death is the latest heartbreak in a long line of tragedies for the Kennedy family.

Referred to as the "Kennedy Curse", even some members of the family have spoken about how often the Kennedys have been struck by death, scandal or tragedy.

Ms Hill's grandfather, US senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, five years after his brother and US President John F. Kennedy was shot dead.

JFK's son John F. Kennedy Jr, his wife Carolyn Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette died in 1999 after their small plane crashed into the sea.

And 35 years before that, in 1964, Ted Kennedy - the brother of JFK and RFK - survived a small airplane crash after it smashed into an apple orchard in Massachusetts.

He spent months in hospital recovering from severe injuries including a punctured lung, broken ribs and a back injury that left him in chronic pain for the rest of his life.

Ted Kennedy died at his home in Hyannis Port, the same place Ms Hill died yesterday afternoon, from brain cancer in 2009.

The compound has around six homes on along Nantucket Sound in Hyannis Port.

Hyannis News first reported that the home where police were called was owned by Ethel Kennedy.

Multiple generations of the Kennedy family have lived at the compound, which most famously served as President John F. Kennedy's summer White House.

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This article originally appeared on Fox News and has been republished here with permission.