Rob Rinder shared his heartbreak on Sunday as his grandmother passed away at the age of 96.
The Judge Rinder star, 45, took to Instagram to pen a touching tribute as he revealed the sad family new to his followers.
He told how Frances had been a ‘limitless gift’ in his life and praised her ‘fierce love’ for her grandchildren.
Amongst the snaps he shared, one saw him lying next to her in bed as they smiled while another showed him holding her hand.
He wrote in the caption: ‘My beloved Grandma Frances passed away yesterday at 96.
Rob Rinder shared his heartbreak on Sunday as his grandmother passed away at the age of 96
The Judge Rinder star, 45, took to Instagram to pen a touching tribute as he revealed the sad family new with his followers
‘She adored me, her grandchildren & great grandchildren with FIERCE love. What a limitless gift it is to have had her in my life. Hold those who love you truly & unconditionally close.’
He ended the tribute by thanking Jewish Care, a social care organisation in the South East, who helped look after her.
In the tribute there was another image of her in her youth as she stood with two men, while another showed her in the audience at a TV awards show.
Rob’s celebrity friends were quick to offer messages of support as Vanessa Feltz penned: ‘Oh Rob I am so sorry to hear your sad news. I wish you and your family long life and send you my deepest condolences dear friend.’
Cat Deeley added: ‘Sending love and thinking of you.’, while Ruth Langsford said: ‘So sorry for your loss Rob. How wonderful to have had her, and all that love ,in your life for so long. Sending love and condolences to you and your family.’
It comes after Rob recently sparked romance rumours with Rylan Clark after they filmed their new travel show together.
On Friday Rylan confessed he shared an intimate moment with TV star Rob when he said he ‘woke up underneath me’.
The pair appeared on This Morning to promote their brand new show, Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour and despite denying romance rumours, the chemistry was plain to see.
He told how Frances had been a ‘limitless gift’ in his life and praised her ‘fierce love’ for her grandchildren as he shared various snaps of her
Amongst the snaps he shared, one saw him lying next to her in bed as they smiled while another showed him holding her hand
In the tribute there was another image of her in her youth as she stood with two men who wore smart clothes
Rob’s celebrity friends were quick to offer messages of support as Vanessa Feltz penned: ‘Oh Rob I am so sorry to hear your sad news’
Talking to Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, they talked about the adventures they got up to in Italy.
Recalling how their friendship blossomed, Rylan said: ‘In Venice we stayed in separate accommodation.
‘Then in Florence it is the same accommodation but separate rooms and by Rome I am waking up with him on top of me like ‘Get off me barrister!”
He added: ‘We started this process as mates and we’ve finished it as actual genuine friends and that’s probably one of the best things to come out of it.’
As the pair discussed their show, Rob had nothing but wonderful things to say about his co-star as he gushed that during filming: ‘He made be proud every single day.’
Looking up at Rylan adoringly, Ben then teased: ‘See that look is why people think something is going on.’
Rylan than touched his stomach as he joked: ‘We are expecting’, before Rob added: ‘It isn’t the tan he really is that radiant.’
The celebrity romance rumour has had the internet in meltdown since the weekend, and fans continued to pick up on a spark between the pair.
Taking to Twitter they wrote: ‘Rob seems totally smitten by Rylan’; ‘Rob and Rylan purposely feeding the thoughts of their fans by leaning right into each other on the sofa arms touching’.
‘Ohh the way Rylan is looking at Rob talking, looks like he loves him a little bit’; ‘@Rylan Just loving you & @RobbieRinder- your friendship fab!!’
As their first show together aired on BBC2 on Sunday night, Rylan posted a message urging viewers to tune in, saying, ‘This man has become family to me’.
In response, Rob, famous for his Judge Rinder TV show, posted cryptically, ‘Friendship may and often does grow into love.’
Given that the two men have both gone through high-profile divorces recently, and that coincidentally they share the same divorce lawyer, online sleuths seized on the post as evidence that their professional relationship had crossed over into something more.
On paper their personalities are poles apart though – Rob’s a cultured and erudite criminal lawyer while Rylan’s a Eurovision presenter and former X Factor semi-finalist – and Rylan was quick to shut the rumour down, posting on X, ‘I am not dating Rob Rinder’.
Yet as they promoted the show to Saturday’s Weekend magazine, they jokingly referred to their relationship as ‘the perfect platonic marriage’ and gave tantalising glimpses into the way their friendship had developed while they were filming the three-part TV series that initially brought them together.
It comes after Rob recently sparked romance rumours with Rylan Clark after they filmed their new travel show together
At Sunday night’s TV Baftas, Rob admitted he has developed a deep bond with Rylan, describing him as the ‘real deal’ but insisted they are not in a romantic relationship
The painful splits the pair endured meant they were ready to embrace the next chapter in their lives by throwing themselves into experiences outside their comfort zones.
And they certainly got that on the new show, retracing the steps of the 18th- and 19th-century English aristocrats who left the confines of British society behind to seek freedom and adventure on the classic upper-class gap year – a Grand Tour of the Continent’s cultural capitals.
At Sunday night’s TV Baftas, Rob admitted he has developed a deep bond with Rylan, describing him as the ‘real deal’ but insisted they are not in a romantic relationship.
‘We aren’t a couple. It is what Rylan said, we are like a very old married couple, we row, laugh together and don’t have sex’, he said.