Kate Garraway has taken her family for their first holiday abroad since husband Derek Draper fell seriously ill during the coronavirus pandemic, but he was unable to join them.
The Good Morning Britain host has been caring for her husband for several years since he contracted Covid-19 and suffered organ failure in March 2020.
Kate has now visited Disneyland Paris with her son Billy and daughter Darcy after the family last went weeks before Derek became seriously unwell.
Kate said it was the family’s ‘big goal’ to go back to the amusement park across the Channel with Derek, but that on the morning of the trip they learned he couldn't come.
She said: “But we went back there with the kids and I was lucky enough to go with my best friend Vicky and it was just an amazing thing, so it’s a special place.”
Recalling the last time they were there, Kate said: "I remember as we headed back to get on the train under the tunnel we went into a pharmacy to get some paracetamol or something and everywhere in French it said ‘no masks all sold out’.
“I remember Derek and I saying to each other, ‘god they’re taking it really seriously over here’ and then we came back and it was literally about two or three weeks later Derek got sick and so it was the last thing we did together."
Kate said the family are ‘good’, but added that it was ‘challenging’ as they continue to reckon with Derek’s health struggles.
“He's still very, very damaged,” she said. “He still can't really move, still can't really speak, still fed through tubes, and so there's a long road ahead.
“But if you compare to last Christmas or the Christmas before, when he was still in hospital then you can see improvement.
“It's just, you just want it to be quicker and faster, of course, like everybody would. But it's a challenging one – he spent most of last year in the hospital as well for various different things, so it was lovely to have him home.”
Kate recently told a new podcast that she has yet to receive her MBE, despite being awarded the honour in 2021.
Speaking to Giovanna Fletcher on the Journey to the Magic podcast, she said: “I haven’t got it yet!
“I’m worried that it’s a mistake and they go, ‘Oh this is awkward. It’s got out, let's just pretend we didn't ask her and just keep going’.
“I was supposed to have it last year but I think there's a backlog, that's what I've been told. It's a little bit like not getting picked for the hockey team, isn't it?”
She continued: “I have been picked. I’ll keep believing I'll get my day at the palace… hopefully. It's lovely to think it might happen. I don't quite believe it.”
