This Morning’s Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have announced they are taking a week-long break from hosting the ITV show from Monday morning during the FIFA World Cup.
The ITV duo and the flagship daytime programme will be absent this week to make way for ITV’s World Cup coverage, with hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary set to return on Friday.
During the school holidays, Holly and Phillip always take a planned break from presenting and are usually replaced by guest presenters on the show. However, in this instance the break is owing to a schedule shake-up.
At the end of Monday’s programme before the pair crossed over to Loose Women’s lunchtime spot, Phillip told ITV viewers: “The World Cup is on ITV for the next few mornings. Alison and Dermot will be with you on Friday. We will see you next week.”
Holly and Phil then waved Welsh and English flags as Holly added: “All that's left for us to say is good luck England, good luck Wales.”
This comes after Phillip addressed the scandal which saw him and co-star Holly accused of jumping the queue during the Queen's lying-in-state.
The This Morning presenters faced backlash after footage emerged of them appearing to dodge the queue to be whizzed through Westminster Hall.
Both Holly and Phillip denied that they queue jumped and insisted they were there for filming purposes – although he later claimed they were not allowed to film inside the hall.
The 60-year-old has since addressed the allegations for the first time and questioned why he should apologise.
Speaking on Dan Wootton's Tonight programme on GB News from his home, Phillip explained: "Why would I apologise? You've already seen that 700 other journalists did exactly the same thing."
After being asked whether he felt ‘vindicated’, the Dancing On Ice presenter added: "I think that it was a shame that what happened, happened."
The presenter went on to claim that he and Holly were unfairly targeted over the incident.
The presenting duo were forced to issue a statement live on This Morning, during which they stated that they were given ‘official permission’ to enter the hall.
Holly said: "The rules were that we would be quickly escorted around the edges to a platform at the back, in contrast, those paying respects walked along a carpeted area beside the coffin and were given time to pause.
"None of the broadcasters and journalists there took anyone's place in the queue and no one filed past the Queen."
She continued: "We, of course, respected those rules – however, we realise that it may have looked like something else. And therefore, totally understand the reaction."
