Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid has described Queen Elizabeth II as ‘totally down to earth’ and ‘utterly regal’ at the same time.
The presenter joined those paying tribute to the late British monarch following her death on Thursday aged 96 as the ITV breakfast show honoured her memory with a poignant show.
With presenters situated around the country to lead the coverage, GMB replaced its usual ticker with a simple black band at the bottom with the date, while there has been no music played between segments as a mark of respect.
Meanwhile, ITV hasn’t cut to any adverts during the broadcast as the UK enters a 10-day spell of mourning.
‘It is quite a moment, I think it’ll take time for it to sink in, and we’re going to be reflecting throughout the morning,’ Susanna said earlier in the morning, before later paying her own tribute to the Queen.
She added: ‘She was able to be at the same time, utterly regal and totally down to earth. That’s the person that we’re hearing about, that’s the person we’ve lost.
‘She was as distant as someone could possibly be, she was the Queen, and yet we all felt like we knew her.’
Susanna’s co-host Ben Shephard also offered his respects, pointing to the Queen’s commitment to her own family.
‘She was one of us,’ he added. ‘There’s an amazing sense of family, the importance of her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren.’
Ben also revealed how her message of hope during the COVID-19 pandemic helped him ‘take great comfort’ during such a challenging time because he knew the way it was helping his own relatives.
‘That meant I could take great comfort from that as well,’ he said.
Back in April 2020, she told the nation: ‘We will succeed – and that success will belong to every one of us.
We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.’
Through the broadcast, the GMB team honoured the Queen’s historic reign, with videos from her life, including clips from what turned out to be her final Christmas Day speech.
