Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have addressed accusations that they jumped The Queue to see the Queen lying in state before her funeral yesterday.
Last week the Monday to Thursday presenters of This Morning were at the centre of a furore around supposed ‘queue jumping’, after they were photographed inside Westminster Hall shortly after interviewing members of the public in the thirty-hour queue and an artist painting the scene.
While ITV released a statement at the time insisting Holly and Phil 'were there in a professional capacity’ and ‘did not jump the queue, have VIP access of file past the Queen lying in state’, Holly has now addressed the row on air as This Morning returned on Tuesday.
‘Like hundreds of accredited broadcasters and journalists, we were given official permission to access the hall,’ she said in a voiceover over footage from the lying in state.
‘The rules were that we would be quickly escorted around the edges to a platform at the back. In contrast, those paying respects walked along a carpeted area beside the coffin and were given time to pause. None of the broadcasters and journalists there took anyone’s place in the queue and no one filed past the Queen.'
She added that they were given ‘official permission… strictly for the purpose of reporting on the event for millions of people in the UK who haven’t been able to visit Westminster in person.
‘However, we realise that it may have looked like something else and therefore totally understand the reaction. Please know that we would never jump a queue.’
Along with the Queen’s family and friends, hundreds of world leaders and dignitaries were invited to the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey yesterday.
US president Joe Biden (with First Lady Jill Biden) arrived early on, however former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump were not in attendance.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended, as did Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. That’s alongside world leaders from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro were also at the funeral – as was Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin.