Huw Edwards suggested a junior BBC producer stay in his hotel room on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral during Covid curbs – even sending a photo of the room.
The veteran newsreader showed off a plush suite funded by BBC licence-payers opposite Windsor Castle.
But the young worker, who had been in touch with the star after meeting online, declined to meet.
Meeting indoors would have been in breach of strict Covid rules at the time. The regulations, which barred indoor mixing, were adhered to by the late Queen as she famously sat alone in St George’s Chapel to mourn her husband of 73 years.
Her Late Majesty cut a stoic and solitary figure – dressed in black and wearing a Covid mask – and could not be comforted by her family during the 50-minute service on Saturday April 17, 2021.
Edwards, who led the BBC’s coverage from Windsor, appears to have been keen for company on the night before the funeral.
A day earlier, he told the youngster who was also working at the event: ‘I’m there all day tomorrow. Staying overnight, then all day Saturday. If you’re around tomorrow night let me know.’
Then in the early hours of the funeral day, Edwards wrote: ‘You missed a good night’ adding: ‘You could have stayed here’, attaching a photo of his ‘very nice’ suite at the Macdonald Windsor Hotel, which is just across the road from the castle. Edwards wrote: ‘Plenty of room, so easy’.
The BBC worker, whom the Mail is calling ‘Charlie’, told the Mail: ‘He sent me a picture of his hotel room. I felt it was very suggestive. There were lockdown restrictions at the time.’
The deluxe suite had mounted wall mirrors, a small sofa and a coffee table, and on a chair in the corner can be seen a notebook and papers and a Covid mask.
At the time, the rules in England were that masks should be worn in public areas of hotels, and they stated: ‘No indoor mixing between people of different households allowed.’
In the end, the pair never met. But the funeral was one of three occasions during the period when Covid rules banned indoor socialising that Edwards suggested a meeting.
Britain’s most famous newsreader and Charlie – who was in their early twenties – had begun messaging online after the youngster started working for the BBC in a junior freelance role and had followed Edwards on Instagram. Charlie regarded Edwards as a role model in the industry, and said the star had been friendly.
The pair later switched to WhatsApp and Charlie has kept hundreds of messages spanning April 2021 to August 2022.
Edwards’ first message was on April 13, 2021, four days before Prince Philip’s funeral. When told Charlie lived in a house-share, Edwards said: ‘So I could pop in to have some tea?’
During an exchange a few days after the funeral, Edwards suggested: ‘Or I can come to yours.’
After Covid rules were eased in May 2021, he also made further suggestions to meet indoors, which by then was legal.
Married father-of-five Edwards, 62, who resigned from the BBC in April after a 40-year career, won plaudits for his faultless handling of the funeral coverage on April 17, 2021.
Wearing a black suit and tie, he anchored four hours of live broadcast, as he was joined by guests including Sir David Attenborough, Gyles Brandreth and Alan Titchmarsh, with pictures beamed to millions around the world.
He later wrote an article about the event entitled: ‘My painstaking preparations for Prince Philip’s funeral.’
Published in The Spectator magazine, he portrayed himself as poring over briefing notes before the big day: ‘Ahead of these great ceremonial occasions, I love the solitary rituals of reading and revising.’
However his WhatsApp messages, seen by the Mail, suggest solitude was not the only thing on his mind.
Two days prior to the funeral, he messaged Charlie, who was also working for the BBC in Windsor: ‘Are you staying tomorrow night?’ A day later he sent the photo.
Edwards’ suggestion came on the same night as Downing Street staff held a drunken gathering at No.10 for which several of them were later handed Covid rule-breaking fines by police.
When the Downing Street story emerged, in 2022, it was trumpeted by BBC news bulletins throughout the day, with Edwards’ co-host Clive Myrie informing viewers of the flagship news show on BBC1 that night: ‘Tonight at ten, Downing Street apologises to the Queen.’
Myrie went on: ‘It was a time of national mourning and Covid rules meant indoor mixing was banned.’ There was ‘public fury’ at Downing Street staff breaking the rules, the newscaster added.
The BBC reported the saga had ‘engulfed No.10’ which had been forced into a ‘chastened apology to the Queen’, and BBC reporters around the country filed dispatches quoting members of the public saying it was ‘disgusting’ and the government was ‘a rudderless ship’.
It even broadcast Labour’s Angela Rayner saying: ‘It’s [like them saying] one rule for everybody else and one rule for us.’ The story rumbled on all week, with Edwards himself fronting News At Ten live from outside No.10 Downing Street.
Yesterday Charlie told the Mail: ‘The Covid rules about households not mixing were still in force, the Queen was all alone on the pews at Philip’s funeral, and then Boris [Johnson] got a hammering for the parties in No.10 – and that was the same night Huw Edwards suggested I stay in his hotel room.
‘Afterwards he said I had missed a good night.’
The overall tone of the WhatsApp messages, which number more than 350, is friendly and consensual on both sides.
With the exception of the Covid rules, there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing. But Charlie feels that, given the age gap and professional circumstances, there was a power imbalance in the relationship. Edwards was one of the BBC’s best-paid stars on a salary of £435,000 to £439,999.
Last month the news anchor – generally regarded as the pre-eminent talent of his generation – resigned from the BBC. He was given a perfunctory 55-word goodbye from his employers notably devoid of any thanks or regret.
It came nine months after Edwards – who will forever be hailed for his composure and authority announcing the death of Queen Elizabeth II – saw his 40-year career spectacularly implode.
He has been off screen since last July when it was alleged he had received sexually explicit photographs from a young person and had paid £35,000. Soon afterwards, the BBC’s Newsnight said that it had evidence of ‘inappropriate’ behaviour towards three other junior employees. The corporation launched an internal inquiry.
This is the first time a junior BBC worker has given an interview about their experience with Edwards, speaking exclusively to the Mail.
Charlie, who now has a job outside the BBC, told the Mail: ‘I worked in TV, so I followed Huw on Instagram. He was someone to look up to and respect and carried a lot of clout.’
Charlie offered to help the inquiry, yet was surprised that it took four weeks to hear back from the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team. Eventually there was a meeting over Zoom with one of the lead investigators on August 21.
Charlie told the Mail: ‘I told him I had been sent suggestive messages. His messages were unwise for someone in his position.’
After the nine months, in which Edwards continued to be paid his £439,000-a-year salary, he resigned on medical grounds without a pay-off. The news anchor also left without any sign of the BBC’s investigation having concluded.
In September, when Charlie asked for an update, the BBC investigator replied: ‘I understand that you would like to know if Huw has been spoken to about your concerns, but you will appreciate that any detail about this… is considered private to that individual and unfortunately it would not be appropriate for me to comment further due to policy.’
After Edwards resigned on health grounds Charlie had no update at all from the BBC about the investigation. Charlie said: ‘It doesn’t surprise me. It’s the BBC marking their own homework.
‘I am also disappointed that the BBC haven’t kept those affected by it up to date on what is happening. I have learned updates through reading newspapers.’
Edwards’ lawyers did not respond to our requests for comment.