KATE Garraway and her daughter Darcey enjoyed a festive night out as they face their first Christmas without Derek Draper.
Broadcaster Kate, 57, put her best fashion foot forward in a velvet raspberry suit for Piers Morgan’s star-studded Christmas party in London yesterday.
The presenter paired the get-up with a red scarf and unmissabe gold shoes for the mother-daughter outing.
Darcey, 18, meanwhile, looked trendy in a black minidress, which she styled with chunky oversized trainers and a dark red handbag.
Draping a denim jacket over her arm, she held her mum’s hand as they made their entrance at the Scarsdale Tavern in Kensington.
Her dark, glossy locks were adorned with a playful white bow, while her perfectly applied makeup accentuated her natural beauty.
This outing comes during a bittersweet year for the pair, following Derek‘s passing in January.
Derek tragically passed away after battling severe complications from COVID-19.
The former political adviser had tested positive for the virus in 2020 and was placed in a coma.
In September, Kate announced her eldest child was headed to university, though she chose to keep the details private.
The duo joined a host of familiar faces at Piers’ Christmas bash.
Nearly four years after leaving Good Morning Britain, Piers reunited with many of his former colleagues.
Among the attendees were Laura Tobin, Susanna Reid, Charlotte Hawkins and Richard Madeley.
Meteorologist Laura Tobin took to Instagram to share a selection of snaps from the night, with her writing a caption alongside the post which read: “It’s not Christmas until @piersmorgan has his Christmas drinks.
“A rare outing, on a non-school night for team GMB!”
In the first snap, Laura could be seen grinning beside Piers and several other GMB stars.
The second snap that Laura shared saw Piers posing with the ladies once again, while the third was of Susanna, Laura, and Charlotte beaming together.
She concluded her carousel of snaps and videos with a short clip of her clinking champagne glasses with her pals.
“Bring him back x,” penned one fan underneath the post.
“Bring @piersmorgan back,” echoed a second.
A third person then wrote: “Looks a great evening all looking wonderful. I do miss Piers. Where’s @robrinder? @adilray Merry Christmas to you all.”
“Lush so glad he’s out with you guys x legend x,” said a fourth.
Kate recently marked her first wedding anniversary without Derek – which would have been their 20th.
She told The Sun: “I think everyone says the first year is the hardest, I don’t know if that would be the case, but you do have all the milestones that really trigger memories and that one I found personally very difficult.
“Because, whereas Easter, the kids’ birthdays, we’re very sad with him not with us, that would have been made all about the whole family when he was alive, whereas in this instance it felt like a very personal day between him and I.”
Kate appeared at this year’s National Television Awards as she and her children Darcey and Billy collected the gong for Derek’s Story, which followed the final year of his life.
She was reduced to tears as she accepted the NTA during the ceremony – that was one day after her anniversary.
Holding her award she said: “I really genuinely did not expect this, goodness me.
“This is a bittersweet one isn’t it? It’s very bitter to be here, with the gorgeous Darcey and Billy.
“I promised them they didn’t have to say anything. We’re halfway through the first year of firsts really.
“A first Easter and first birthdays, without Derek. It’s so strange to be here for the first Television Awards without him.”
Pier’s departure from GMB came about in 2021 after his comments about Meghan Markle were scrutinised.
While on air after Prince Harry and Meghan sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a tell-all interview, Piers said he didn’t believe the Duchess of Sussex’s claims.
Meghan made allegations of racism in her bombshell interview, and Piers didn’t agree with what the Duchess had to say.
Piers’ comments sparked more than 50,000 complaints to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom.
The watchdog later ruled the comments did not break the rules, but Piers never returned to GMB, with him making a swift move over to Talk TV and getting his own show titled Piers Morgan: Uncensored.
After his exit from GMB, Piers spoke out online and said: “You shouldn’t be shamed or vilified or cancelled for having an opinion, unless you genuinely are spewing hateful bigoted stuff.”
He also added: “I thought the whole thing was a farce and I’m delighted that actually, as a result of the farce, we’ve ended up with a whole network which is now dedicated to preventing that kind of farce from recurring.”
