Derek Draper's funeral is attended by figures like Sir Elton John, Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Tony Blair

56-year-old Kate, wearing a long black coat and pearl necklace and carrying a candle, left the Church of St Mary The Virgin in Primrose Hill, north-west London, with the couple’s children, Darcey and Billy, on Friday.

Former political lobbyist-turned-psychologist Derek married the Good Morning Britain (GMB) presenter at the same church in September 2005.

Their daughter, Darcey, acted as a pall bearer when the coffin, covered with purple and white flowers, made its way out of the church.

Derek fell seriously ill during the early part of the pandemic in March 2020 and spent 13 months in hospital before he was discharged. The former Southlands High School and Runshaw Pupil pupil sadly died on January 3 aged 56 after suffering long-lasting symptoms from coronavirus.

A key figure in the early years of New Labour in the 1990s, Draper was a former researcher for Lord Peter Mandelson. He also set up the Progress organisation with Liam Byrne, who went on to become a Labour MP, and was an author.

A former director of lobbying firm GPC Market Access, Derekwas caught up in the lobbygate scandal in the 1990s and left politics. He later founded and edited LabourList, a left-wing rival to online portals such as Conservative Home, but later stepped down from the site in 2009.

Mourners at Derek's funeral included shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband, Sir Tony’s wife Cherie Blair and former Number 10 director of communications Alastair Campbell, as well as former Labour MPs such as Lord Mandelson and Ed Balls – who also now works as a GMB presenter.

Sir Elton, who attended the funeral with his husband David Furnish and had offered comfort to Kate and Derek and through his illness, held the order of service in his hands as he exited the church.

The hymns sung include Lord Of The Dance by Sydney Carter and psalm 23 The Lord’s My Shepherd.

A choir also performed songs in this order: Gospel Acclamation Alleluia, Alleluia!, Sanctus And Benedictus, Agnus Dei, God Be In My Head by Sir Henry Walford Davies and canticle Nunc Dimittis.

GMB stars Charlotte Hawkins, Ben Shephard, Richard Madeley, Alex Beresford, Rob Rinder, Susanna Reid, Sean Fletcher and Richard Arnold also attended the funeral.

Singer and TV presenter Myleene Klass, who has previously stepped in to host Kate’s radio show, and actress Tina Hobley, who has been on Holby City and presented on Smooth Radio, were also among at the service.

Those at the church also included journalist Robert Peston, talent manager Jonathan Shalit, radio presenter Roman Kemp, former Sky News political editor Adam Boulton and former political editor of GMTV and ex-Labour MP, Gloria De Piero.

TV presenter Fiona Phillips and This Morning editor Martin Frizell, who both worked on the former ITV morning programme GMTV, and former GMB star Piers Morgan, were also in attendance.

Kate, a former GMTV presenter, often provided health updates about her husband on the ITV morning programme and fronted two documentaries on the channel about how the family’s life had changed following his illness.

When she won the authored documentary prize at the National Television Awards for ITV’s Caring For Derek, she brought Darcey along with her when she went to the ceremony in 2022.

Draper was admitted to hospital in December after suffering a heart attack and in January, Kate announced her husband’s death on Instagram with a post saying: “As some of you may know, he has been critically ill following a cardiac arrest in early December which, because of the damage inflicted by Covid in March 2020, led to further complications.”