Andrew Marr’s emotional announcement of the Queen’s death on LBC radio moved many listeners, who have called his response “profound” and “heartbreaking”.
Speaking on the New Statesman podcast today, Marr described why he began to cry while announcing the death of the Queen. “As nobody’s idea of an ardent monarchist, I found myself on LBC announcing the news yesterday that the Queen had died,” he said. “I knew I was going to crack up, and I did. I choked up when I had to say the words, ‘We have to interrupt this programme to tell you that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has died at the age of 96.’
“And I thought to myself, ‘Why am I so emotional? Why can I not stop my voice cracking and some tears coming to my eyes?’
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“It was because I was thinking of my own father’s death two years ago. And that’s interesting, I think, because in a way – it’s a hackneyed cliched phrase – she was a kind of mother of the nation.”
Andrew Marr was speaking to Anoosh Chakelian on the New Statesman podcast. Listen to the full episode on the New Statesman website, in the New Statesman app, or in your preferred podcast player.
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