Esther Rantzen has paid tribute to her friend Dame Vera Lynn as she dies aged 103.
The TV personality, 79, honoured the late wartime singer following the news of her death, while appearing on Thursday’s episode of This Morning via video link.
Hosts Holly Willoughby, Phillip Schofield and Good Morning Britain’s Lorraine Kelly were also among the celebrities leading tributes to the Forces’ Sweetheart.
Sweet: Esther Rantzen has paid tribute to her friend Dame Vera Lynn as she dies aged 103
Esther sweetly said: ‘I think everyone will feel a personal sense of loss. I’m no spring chicken but she was a star for the whole of my life. She was constantly loyal to the things she believed in.
‘She was constantly loyal to the things she believe in – I remember seeing her very often at the Not Forgotten association.’
‘She associated herself with the people who defended our nation, she had this wonderful capacity her voice was as true as a bell.’
We’ll Meet Again: The TV personality, 79, honoured the late wartime singer following the news of her death, while appearing on Thursday’s episode of This Morning via video link
Discussing her talent as a singer, Esther said: ‘I remember hearing her sing unaccompanied at a charity event, she had a natural dignity which was never too grand. She associated with the people she knew cared about her. She was a very remarkable human being.’
During her address to the nation at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, the Queen referenced Dame Vera’s most famous song We’ll Meet Again in her speech.
Esther said: ‘To have your most famous song quoted by the Queen was quite something, but there was something royal about Dame Vera because she was so loved, everyone who remembers the war remembers Vera’s contribution.’
Moving: Hosts Holly Willoughby, Phillip Schofield and Good Morning Britain’s Lorraine Kelly were also among the celebrities leading tributes to the Forces’ Sweetheart
Recalling her own memories of the iconic singer, Holly said she remembers catching a glimpse of Dame Vera as a child where she grew up in east Sussex.
She said: ‘When I was a really little girl, we grew up near Ditchling, I remember being with mum and she said “that lady there is Vera Lynn”, I always think now that at least I got to catch a glimpse of this incredible woman.
Phil commented: ‘I met her a couple of times, she was so dignified, she never really put a foot wrong, at the time we needed her the most. From that time on, a calm serenity and dignity?’
Wartime hero: Dame Vera is pictured on May 7 ahead of the 75th anniversary of VE Day and she has died today aged 103
Esther replied: ‘She had in a way, what the Queen has, she’s disciplined. I’m not sure she ever had a singing lesson, she used it to great affect with beautiful songs.’
Ahead of the morning magazine show, Lorraine honoured the singer during Good Morning Britain, by saying: ‘Lorraine: You cannot underestimate the popularity of Dame Vera Lynn and her popularity to everyone going through the war.’
Dame Vera died on Thursday, as Britons paid tribute to the much-loved singer who will forever be remembered for her ‘magical voice’, morale-boosting songs and risking her own life to visit troops around the globe during the Second World War.
She became a symbol of freedom for the men often thousands of miles from home and songs such as We’ll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover gave them hope in their darkest hours that they would one day return to their loved-ones in Britain.
Much-loved: Dame Vera entertained troops with morale-boosting visits to the front line during the Second World War. She is pictured during the war (left, in 1941) and shortly after it finished (right, in 1947)
Committed: Dame Vera pictured with injured troops in Burma in 1942 on one of her many trips to the frontline to raise morale and support the brave men risking their lives for their country
And at home hits such as There’ll Always Be An England gave millions belief better days lay ahead as the Luftwaffe lay siege to UK cities during the Blitz and threatened invasion from France before the Allies swept Hitler’s forces aside in 1944 and 1945.
Dame Vera married her musician husband Harry Lewis in 1941 after meeting him in 1939 and the couple had one child, Virginia, who was born in 1946. Harry died in 1988 and Vera lived next door to her daughter in Ditchling, Sussex, who is understood to have been by her mother’s side when she died in the early hours of this morning.
Her family said in a statement they were ‘deeply saddened to announce the passing of one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers at the age of 103’. They added: ‘Dame Vera Lynn passed away earlier today, surrounded by her close family. Further information regarding a memorial service will be announced at a later date.’
Three-quarters of a century on from the end of the Second World War We’ll Meet Again was quoted by the Queen in a rare TV address to give steel to Britain’s 66million people separated from their family and friends during the coronavirus pandemic.
The song then became a lockdown anthem as it again entered the singles charts with profits going to the NHS and poignantly she last performed the song just six weeks ago.
The veteran singer was beamed as a hologram to stand next to Katherine Jenkins at an empty Royal Albert Hall to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
Royal circle: Queen Elizabeth II (centre) with Dame Vera, Bruce Forsyth and Claire Sweeney at the Second World War 60th Anniversary Service at Horse Guards Parade in London in July 2005
Friends: Dame Vera with singer Katherine Jenkins at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2005 (right). They performed together just last month for the 75th anniversary of VE Day
Dame Vera dedicated the performance ‘to the brave boys and what they sacrificed for us’ in her final interview before she died. She added: ‘They left their families and homes to fight for our freedom and many lost their lives trying to protect us and our liberties.’
Dame Vera’s death has sparked an outpouring of grief for a woman whose name is almost as synonymous with the war effort as Sir Winston Churchill. During the conflict she flew thousands of miles at great personal risk to perform for soldiers and visiting them in field hospitals.
One of those was Captain Tom Moore, who served in Burma where she visited in 1942, who said today her death was a ‘real shame’, adding: ‘She had a huge impact on me in Burma and remained important to me throughout my life. My thoughts are with Dame Vera Lynn’s family at this sad time’.