This Morning’s Gyles Brandreth breaks down in tears over late father

Gyles Brandreth has broken down in tears on ITV’s This Morning while speaking about VJ Day, with the presenter becoming emotional when the show aired a photo of his late dad

This Morning’s Gyles Brandreth became emotional on the ITV show as he spoke about his late father – who served in World War II. This Morning presenters Emma Willis and Craig Doyle opened up about remembering VJ Day with Gyles Brandreth and Rachel Johnson.

After the show marked the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day with a two minute silence, Gyles, 77, spoke about how moving it was to see the King and Queen lead it. “To see there veterans who were actually alive, taking part in what was for many people called the forgotten war. The people in Burma thought they were the forgotten army,” he said.

Gyles added: “Whenever we talk about the war, I think about my own parents. My father was in the army for six years during the Second World War in intelligence but he rarely talked about.”

Giles broke down as he spoke to fellow This Morning guest Rachel JohnsonAs the programme showed a picture of his father on the screen, Gyles broke down, saying: “There he is, bless him. Oh that’s rather touching.”

Struggling to speak, he added: “They’re good people, really good people. Interestingly, they very rarely talked about it. They just got on with it.”

Craig said: “It’s very poignant. So many people will be feeling like you right now Giles – sad and very proud.

Gyles’ father Charles was a lawyer – however, he was sent to Germany after the start of the Second World War as part of the Allied Controlled Commission. Gyles was subsequently born in a hospital in Wuppertal, West Germany in 1948 before returning to England with his family. Charles died in 1982 at the age of 72.

Earlier this year, Gyles opened up about his friend King Charles after the royal dropped out of an event to focus on his health back in March. The King was admitted to hospital after suffering side effects from his cancer treatment at the time.

Speaking on This Morning, Gyles said: “This is a man of 76 who is actually a workaholic. I saw him on Tuesday evening at a reception hosted by Queen’s Camilla. He came along to support her, he didn’t have to be there – he was a surprise guest.”