Robert Rinder’s grandfather has died of coronavirus at the age of 92.
The barrister and TV judge, who himself fell ill with the virus last month, said his grandfather died of “this terrible disease” on Wednesday night.
The 41-year-old, stylised as Judge Rinder, announced the news during a tearful appearance on This Morning during which he urged the public to remain optimistic about the nation’s efforts to combat the outbreak.
'What good news is there son?'@RobbieRinder remembers his grandfather ♥
'We can choose to drown ourselves in negativity and horror, or choose to galvanise ourselves to be at our very best' pic.twitter.com/js8DMCrGTX
— This Morning (@thismorning) April 3, 2020
He told hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford that his grandfather had “survived the Second World War” and was a man who “determined and conspired to see joy in the world”.
Speaking via video call, he said: “As much as there is terrible and appalling news out there, we also as a community, as neighbours, as a country, need to remember that there are thousands of people who are recovering from this disease every single day, that our police are doing their very best, our front-line workers are too – and that we, as a nation, are responding positively.
“That is absolutely the message that I know he would have wanted to share.
“Whenever I saw him, which was very often, I loved him very much, it was: ‘What good news is there, son?’
“That’s something that that generation reminds us all of. It has been a challenging time but I remember him in that positive way.”
He said people can choose to “drown ourselves in the negativity and the horror, or choose to galvanise ourselves to be at our very best”.
Rinder appeared on This Morning last month after recovering from coronavirus and seeing out his time in self-isolation.
Describing his symptoms, he said: “Terrible temperature, appalling cough and lying with my feet on the ground.
“My head on the bed, in a coma watching the Kardashians. So I must have been really ill.”