Declan Donnelly left King Charles stunned with a surprising remark about Ant McPartlin’s newborn. The TV star informed the King that his co-star Ant was absent from a Buckingham Palace reception due to parenting duties.
The I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! presenter was at a reception with his wife Ali Astall hosted by the King, honouring a group of young individuals who have transformed their lives with help from The Prince’s Trust.
After meeting the King, Dec shared: “I passed on Ant’s apology that he couldn’t be here today because he was at home breastfeeding.”
He jokingly added: “I don’t know whether I broke royal protocol by giving that information,” reports the Mirror.
Ant announced the arrival of his son on Instagram with a monochrome photo of him cradling his new arrival, Wilder Patrick McPartlin.
Addressing speculation that he was the baby’s godfather, Dec said he hadn’t been officially asked, adding: “Everybody else has presumed, I won’t presume.”
The reception allowed the King to meet the winners of the Prince’s Trust Awards and he engaged in conversation with recipients and celebrities who had presented the awards, including actor Martin Freeman, Pixie Lott and Ellie Simmonds.
Pointing towards the award recipients, Dec said: “All the young people behind us here, some incredible stories again about people getting their life on track and making a real difference to their communities, and some incredible stories yet again.”
Speaking about the King, who has recently resumed public duties following his cancer diagnosis, the star noted: “He looked really well today.”
Dec continued: “He was on good form, good spirits, always has a laugh and joke which is lovely, has a fantastic sense of humour and spent time with all the young people.”
The Prince’s Trust Awards were held on Tuesday, with Dec accompanied by his TV partner Ant, marking the latter’s first professional engagement since becoming a father. Among those in attendance were Penny Lancaster, Kate Garraway and Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri.
Chatting to the Mirror on the red carpet, Kate confessed she is at the “beginning of grief” as she concentrates on her children Darcey, 18, and Billy, 14. She revealed: “I’m only at the beginning of grief really. I’m just three months in so there are many ups and downs to come. At the moment it’s about focusing on the youngsters, Billy and Darcy and focusing on doing things like this when I can that I haven’t been able to do.”
“And at the moment it’s all about keeping busy. I’m sure there will be a moment where I have to stop and deal with it. But at the moment I’m just keeping busy. Help is there. You just have to ask for it. And sometimes you have to ask for it time and time again. And hopefully, organisations like the Prince’s Trust which is particularly good at identifying people, will be there to scoop you up.”