Huw Edwards’s life from breaking news of Queen’s death to marriage and children

Huw Edwards, who has today arrived in court for sentencing, was a television broadcaster at the BBC for almost 40 years.

The 62-year-old was arrested in November last year and has pleaded guilty to the making of indecent images of children.

But before news of his crimes broke, Edwards was one of the prominent faces of BBC News, reporting on major royal family events and important political moments.

Away from his TV career, he has been married to wife Vicky Flind for 30 years, and the couple have five children together.

Let’s take a look back at Edwards’s career and life off-camera…

Welsh roots

Edwards, whose first language is Welsh, graduated from the University College of Cardiff with a first-class honours degree in French.

His first media job came at Swansea Sound, where he worked as a local reporter in 1983. A year later he found his home at BBC, where he’d stay for the next four decades of his career.

Edwards stayed firmly in touch with his roots and wrote a thesis on Welsh Nonconformist chapels for a PhD degree.

He also fronted a historical documentary series, The Story of Wales, for BBC Wales.

Primetime TV and BBC News

Edwards joined the broadcaster as a news trainee, before progressing to Parliamentary Correspondent for BBC Wales. During the 12 years in this role, he reported on Margaret Thatcher’s resignation and the rise of Tony Blair.

In 1999, he took over as the host of the BBC Six O’Clock News, which became the most-watched programme in Britain.

He was once again promoted in 2003 to be the anchor on the BBC Ten O’Clock News.

Royal family coverage

When big royal events are taking place, it was often Edwards who led the coverage on the BBC. He played a significant role in Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, and the work went on to win a Bafta for Best Coverage of a Live Event.

Edwards was also at the forefront of the coverage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding, as well as the Diamond and Platinum Jubilees.

Breaking the news of the Queen’s death to the nation on BBC One also fell to Edwards. He later wrote on Instagram: ‘My work is a privilege (Thank you for all your messages)’.

Following the monarch’s passing in September, he led coverage on the days following including the funeral.

Talking about holding it together during the ten days of broadcasting that followed the Queen’s death, Edwards revealed to Good Housekeeping: ‘I ate a lot of bananas and I drank a lot of tea!

‘It’s funny because you think you’ve prepared yourself for The Queen passing away, but the reality of it was quite overwhelming.’

He continued: ‘I kept saying to myself, “Is this really happening?” When it was all over, I went home and I sat in the garden on my own with a cup of tea and a Welsh cake.’

More recently, Edwards covered King Charles’ coronation in May 2023.

Marriage and children

Edwards is married to TV producer Vicky Flind, and the couple have five children together – three sons, Dan, Sammy, and Amos, and two daughters, Hannah and Rebecca. The family lives in London.

Flind once also worked for the BBC as editor of The Week Politics show, before moving rival ITV show Peston in 2016.

Following the 2023 scandal, when The Sun claimed that Edwards had paid thousands of pounds to a young person for sexually explicit images, Vicky Flind released a statement on his behalf.

She asked for privacy and revealed that Edwards had been ‘suffering from serious mental health issues’.

However, it was reported in April this year that Edwards and Flind have since split, after 30 years together.

A source told The Sun: ‘They separated quite a long time ago but have not announced it publicly.

‘Huw has been living elsewhere for a while.’

The couple has not yet said publicly whether they will be divorcing.

Mental health issues

Edwards has described suffering from depression on and off throughout his adulthood.

‘I’m pretty clear that I have suffered – and do suffer – from depression,’ he previously told Men’s Health.

These mental health issues have left him unable to get out of bed at times.

‘At least I now know when I’m going to enter a phase like that. Your mind goes into a place where you don’t want to do anything. You can’t make any decisions.’

After Edwards was named as the BBC presenter at the centre of the 2023 scandal, Flind revealed that her husband was receiving in-patient hospital care for serious mental health issues.

Meanwhile, Edwards’ defence lawyer said the former presenter had been suffering from ‘physical and mental health issues’ at the plea hearing in July.

Huw Edwards’ salary

The broadcaster was once earning £550,000 – £599,999, but it was reduced voluntarily after gender pay differences were evened out.

By 2018, it went down to £520,000 – £529,999, before once again lowering to £410,000-£414,999 in 2021.

Edwards was paid between £475,000 and £479,999 from 2023 to 2024, despite resigning in April this year.

At the time, the BBC defended his increase in salary.

However, in August the BBC asked Edwards to repay his salary after he pleaded guilty to having indecent images of children.