Graham Norton says Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield “did nothing wrong” by “jumping” the queue to see Queen Elizabeth lying in state.
Graham Norton says Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield ‘did nothing wrong’ by ‘jumping’ the queue to see Queen Elizabeth lying in state
The chat show host, 59, revealed he was offered a ticket by a British minister friend to skip the huge line and view the monarch’s casket, but decided not to accept to avoid criticism and maintain the right “optics” to the public.
He spoke after ITV’s ‘This Morning’ hosts Holly, 41, and Phillip, 60, were accused of “skipping the queue” to see the Queen’s coffin and film a segment for their breakfast show at Westminster Hall, London.
Graham said during an appearance on Nihal Arthanayake’s BBC Radio 5 Live show on Monday (26.09.22): “Phil and Holly – the queue. So, as far as I’m concerned, they did nothing wrong. There was a two-tier system. You could queue jump!
“Now I got offered a queue jump ticket by a friend of mine. He’s an MP and he said, ‘Do you want to come?’
“I didn’t say yes because I thought if anybody sees me I’ll get it in the neck.”
Graham went on he wanted to keep the right “optics”, continuing: “So I suppose what Phil and Holly got wrong was they thought people wouldn’t care. I guess that that’s their crime.
“The actual queue jumping? They did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong – but foolish of them to not think that people would be annoyed.”
Holly and Phillip have been hit with floods of abuse online in the wake of claims they jumped the queue to see the Queen’s casket earlier this month, with an online petition campaigning for the pair to be fired from their ‘This Morning’ jobs.
The Mail on Sunday revealed the pair’s names were not on the accreditation list when they made their visit to see the Queen lying in state.
Holly and Phillip issued a statement insisting they did not skip the queue.
Footage inside Westminster Abbey appeared to show the duo walking along an area separate from the media box but ITV has said they did not join mourners in filing past the coffin.
An ITV spokeswoman told Mail Online: “This Morning had press accreditation and like other media, Phillip and Holly were escorted to work from the press gallery by government staff.
“They did not file past The Queen's coffin... any allegations of improper behaviour are categorically untrue.”
Most mourners waited up to 16 hours to see the Queen’s coffin, including former footballer David Beckham, 47, who had a 13-hour wait after joining the line at 2am, and is said to have declined an offer from an MP to skip the line.
Tagged in Graham Norton Holly Willoughby Phillip Schofield