Family and friends came to the funeral of Derek Draper today to honor him. Kate Garraway’s young daughter carried his coffin in and out of the service.
Feeling upset Kate’s two kids, Darcey and Billy, joined her at the service where she and Derek got married almost 20 years ago.
Along with Derek’s family, Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan were among the famous people who came to mourn his death. Derek was 56 years old.
Kate held her 14-year-old son Billy’s hand as she left the service in Primrose Hill, North London.
Darcey, her 17-year-old daughter, put on a brave face as she helped carry her dad’s coffin in and out of the church.
Kate was sad as she saw the flowers that were placed on his coffin. One of the flowers had a note that said, “The world won’t be the same without you.”
The Good Morning Britain star looked very sad as she met and hugged mourners and then watched the coffin of her late husband be taken into the church.
As she walked inside with Billy, the GMB host took a quick look up at the sky.
She wore a long black coat with big pearls. Darcey and Billy were also all black.
Derek died on January 3, aged 56, after a nearly four-year battle with complications from Covid. His funeral is being held four weeks after his death.
Derek got very sick at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and stayed in the hospital for 13 months before being sent home.
He had to go back to the hospital in December because he had a heart attack.
Brave Kate went through “eight grueling weeks” after taking her COVID-19-stricken husband Derek to Mexico for treatment by a specialist.
A lot of Kate’s co-stars from “Good Morning Britain,” like Ben Shephard, Susanna Reid, and Ranvir Singh, went to the funeral.
Lorraine Kelly from ITV and Ben Shephard, who works with Kate as a host on GMB, were also there.
People from the public eye, including Sir Elton John, Judge Rinder, and Myleene Klass, were seen going into St. Mary the Virgin Church.
Kate had been there for Derek when he was sick, and she had called Sir Elton a “huge friend” in the past.
In the past, Sir Elton had asked Kate and Derek to be special guests at his Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert at London’s O2 Arena.
Fiona Phillips, a TV host, and Martin Frizell, an editor for This Morning, both used to work on GMTV, an ITV morning show.
Myleene Klass, who has filled in as host of Kate’s Smooth Radio show before, was also there to mourn.
Kate talked about her husband’s health a lot on the ITV morning show, and she also hosted two documentaries about how his illness changed their family’s life.
A lot of politicians, like Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, and Tony Blair, who used to be prime minister, came to the funeral to show their support.
Derek was a key figure in the early years of New Labour in the 1990s. He used to work as a researcher for Lord Mandelson.
Kate wrote on Instagram that her husband had died, saying, “As some of you may know, he has been critically ill since a cardiac arrest in early December, which, because of the damage done by Covid in March 2020, led to further complications.”
“Derek was surrounded by his family in his final days and I was by his side holding his hand throughout the last long hours and when he passed.”
The first time since Derek’s death that TV star Kate was seen, she put on a brave face.
Before the funeral, the 56-year-old GMB host smiled as she got a hug from a friend.
