Alastair Stewart reflects on ‘emotional’ moment he shared news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death: ‘There was a chill to it’

It comes a year on from the momentous day, which has seen an outpouring of tributes from members of the royal establishment.

The commemorations have been led by the King and Queen, who attended the Scottish church where the late Queen worshipped for a poignant event where private prayers were said and a moment of reflection observed for the nation’s longest-serving monarch.

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Stewart has reflected on the burden of delivering the news to the British public in an exclusive interview with GB News.

“I just remember thinking, gosh,this is one of the big ones”, he told GB News Royal Correspondent Cameron Walker.

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“I did genuinely find it very emotional reading it out.

“Not only because of the burden of responsibility on my shoulders, but on the shoulders of the entire team at GB News and those who were kind enough to be watching us and listening to us, as opposed to any of the other great colleagues who were also doing it.

“It was the passing of a remarkable woman who thought my entire professional career, I had admired and had the extraordinary honour of meeting on a couple of occasions through charity events.”

The late Queen died peacefully at her Balmoral home aged 96 last year having served as sovereign for 70 years.

The adored monarch was mourned by her family and friends and remembered by the nation.

Stewart added that in his reporting of the momentous event, he made a statement of “enormous political and constitutional importance”.

“Part of the brain is doing the ‘what’s next?’ bit”, he said.

“In the sense that having uttered the words, ‘the Queen is dead, long live the King’.

“I wasn’t the first to say and but it’s important to note that because within those few words, there’s a statement of enormous political and constitutional importance that we had to reflect as well as reflecting the fact that to the vast majority of the folk who were kind enough to be watching or listening to us, this really mattered.

“This wasn’t just another who had died. It wasn’t a here today gone tomorrow politician.

“This was a woman who had served this country, had worn her father’s uniform and had served in the Second World War as a woman reservist and stood on the balcony on Buckingham Palace along with Winston Churchill.

“It was an awesome moment.”

Fellow GB News host Nigel Farage took the baton from Stewart during The People’s Channel’s coverage of the Queen’s passing, and admitted to feeling a sense of “depression” as he reflected on the news.

“When I heard a piece of paper had been run into the House of Commons that day, I knew what had happened”, he said.

“I would regard myself as a stiff upper lip type, I don’t believe in showing emotion too much, but I found it really difficult.

“She had been there our whole lives, she was somebody we respected, admired.

“For me it wasn’t the death of somebody of 96-years-old with an illness, it was the values going with her.

“I was sad about it, but also slightly depressed about it.”