On the back of the order of service for her funeral was a photo of Phillip Schofield’s mum. She is beaming with happiness in a picture taken on her wedding day in the late 1950s.
Clutching a huge bouquet of lilies, Pat holds tight the hand of beloved husband Brian. The joyous occasion was soon followed by the happy arrival of sons Phil and Tim.
On Friday, as Pat was laid to rest at her local church, St Michael’s in Newquay, Cornwall, mourners will have reflected on the unhappy fates of those two sons, who had lost their father in 2008 to a heart attack.
Those who know TV presenter Phil say that Pat was ‘extraordinarily loyal’ to the former This Morning host. It was her, of course, that he turned to when he found his life in tatters back in May last year.
Phillip Schofield at Friday’s funeral
Phil with his mum Pat in 2008 at the Community Hospital Summer Fete in Oxfordshire
Without a job after his high-profile exit from ITV, his employers for three decades, his reputation was in disarray, and his wife Stephanie Lowe was said to furious with him for his secret affair with a much younger man who worked on ITV’s This Morning.
Phil then openly admitted that he wanted to take his own life and that he was only ‘saved’ by his daughters Ruby and Molly. Yet in Cornwall he had found some solace and regularly visited his mum at her home in Newquay, where they were seen enjoying long walks together.
He was present on October 14 when Pat, who was originally from Oldham in Greater Manchester, ‘passed away peacefully’ surrounded by her family after what he described as a ‘heartbreaking weekend‘.
Phil shared a picture on Instagram of himself smiling with his arm placed lovingly around his mother’s shoulders, writing: ‘Over three days we held her, loved her, hugged her and said everything that needed to be said. She was calm, peaceful, beautiful and dignified. I will forever be proud and privileged that she was my mum.’
He gave his ‘eternal thanks’ to the medics who had looked after his mum in her final days.
As Pat was laid to rest on Friday, Phil’s wife Stephanie was at his side, as were daughters Ruby and Molly. The pair wed in 1993 and though they separated in 2020 after he revealed he was gay, they remained legally married.
The public disclosure of his secret affair was difficult news to bear for family and friends, and saw him shunned by colleagues. But last month Schofield returned to television screens for the Channel 5 television show Cast Away, during which he attempted to fend for himself on island in the Indian Ocean for ten days while explaining his former conduct. He said colleagues had been responsible for an ‘utter betrayal’ and that he had been ‘chucked under a bus’.
Onlookers at the church said that Schofield ‘held it together’ as he arrived flanked by family members. Along with three others he carried the coffin, made of wicker and topped with a beautiful bouquet of white flowers. Guests were encouraged to ‘dress brightly to reflect a life filled with love’ and invited to donate to the charity Diabetes UK. His mother had suffered the condition.
Phil’s 55-year-old younger brother Tim was notably absent. With years still to serve after his criminal conviction last April for child sex offences, it appeared he was not granted any special dispensation to attend the funeral.
At the service in the Anglican church, Phil shared his devotion to his mother. He gave a reading titled ‘Love Story’. Mourners also sang along to hymns Morning Has Broken and Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. Nat King Cole’s 1952 hit Unforgettable was played as was Frank Sinatra’s Always.
The entertainer seemed overcome with emotion after the service, recalled one onlooker: ‘Phil kept himself together and was really grateful for everyone who came but afterwards, when he left the church, he lost it. It was obviously a really hard day for him.’
Following a short cremation service that was for family only, Phil invited mourners to the Oceanside Hotel ‘for a drink to toast Pat’.
Touchingly, a Hawaiian farewell song named Aloha ‘Oe was played at the funeral, which features the words ‘until we meet again’.
Below the words of the song on the order of service was another photo of Pat and her husband (who worked with a firm that made surfboards), taken just a few years before Brian’s death from a long-standing illness. Those who gathered to celebrate Pat’s life will trust the couple are now united once more, beyond the cares and sadnesses of recent years.
