Eamonn Holmes said he “felt cheated” after television cameras cut away from a “beautiful moment” at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
GB News host Eamonn, 62, was covering the funeral from Buckingham Palace on the day the nation said a final farewell to its longest reigning monarch following her death aged 96. On Tuesday, Eamonn reflected on the historic day with GB News co-host Isabel Webster and former royal correspondent Nicholas Owens.
The former This Morning host asked “was it just me?” as he shared his disappointment at one element of the funeral he felt had been ruined during its broadcast. Discussing the poignant moment Her Majesty’s coffin was lowered into the ground, Eamonn said he “felt cheated” when television cameras cut away.
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He said: “There was that beautiful moment in St George’s Chapel, when the coffin was descending into the ground and everybody was watching saying, ‘Gosh, what happens next?’. And it goes down, down, down and then we cut to the piper, and when we come back to the chapel, the coffin was gone.
“I felt a bit cheated by that.”
Debating the incident, BBC News’ Nicholas – still wearing a black suit out of respect for the late monarch – replied: "Well, here's the thing. At the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, I think the instruction must have gone out that we saw the coffin, then there was pictures - awful pictures we’ll all remember of the Queen on her own with a mask and nobody with her, that was so, so heartrending, wasn't it?
“When we next saw the chapel, the coffin had gone. And I thought, ‘What? What happened to that? Where did it go?’
“This time we got not long - they didn't linger on it very long, but just enough to see it descend. And as you say, that's the moment when it really is, “Goodbye, ma’am.’”
Eamonn and Nicholas speculated that to broadcast the moment may have been “bad taste” and the decision for cameras to cut away could have been to respect the privacy of the late monarch and her family at such a sad time. On Monday, Eamonn reacted to the backlash against his former colleagues Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield after they were accused of “jumping the queue” for the Queen’s lying in state in Westminster Hall.
The Northern Irish broadcaster was spotted reacting to the public outcry on social media, as he liked a Twitter user’s response to the incident.
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