ITV This Morning's Holly Willoughby left emotional as she reads out touching letters her children wrote to the Queen

This Morning returned to ITV on Monday (September 12) for a special episode to honour the late Queen. Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were back at the helm of the show after the programme was taken off air on Friday.

Following the BBC's announcement of Queen Elizabeth II's death on Thursday evening (September 8), ITV made significant changes to its usual daytime TV schedule. Friday saw Good Morning Britain deliver a live broadcast hosted by Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard from 6am, and then from 9am until the evening, viewers watched an extended ITV News Special.

This meant that Holly and Phil were absent from our screens until today when they returned for a tribute programme. At a later time of 11am, the pair appeared in smart, black outfits as they addressed the Queen's passing.

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The two-hour long episode saw Holly and Phil joined by guests including their fellow co-hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary as they reminisced about Her Majesty and heard stories and memories from people who met The Queen during her reign.

Holly, 41, then shared some personal tributes from her own family as she read out touching letters her three children had written to Queen Elizabeth II following her death.

The TV presenter revealed she had taken her children Harry, 13, Belle 11, and Chester, seven, to Buckingham Palace to see the sea of flowers, gifts and messages left for the nation's longest-reigning monarch.

A photo posted on Holly's Instagram showed Belle laying a card for the Queen with a bouquet of flowers. She wrote: "Time to reflect and pay our respects." And the TV host added proudly: "The children wrote the most