A tearful Mary Berry delivered one of the most emotional moments of the 2026 British Academy Television Awards as she paid tribute to her late son William while accepting the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship award.
The beloved TV icon, now 91, was honoured for her extraordinary six-decade career in television, but it was her heartbreaking words about her son that left audiences devastated.
Standing on stage, Mary thanked her husband Paul, 94, and her children Annabel and Thomas before quietly adding: “William is in heaven but I thank him.”
The emotional tribute came 37 years after William tragically died in a car accident in 1989 at just 19 years old while visiting home from university.
Mary reflected on her remarkable journey from leaving school with only two O-levels in cookery and needlework to becoming one of Britain’s most beloved television figures.
She said: “I’m a teacher so I feel very honoured to be given BAFTA’s highest award.”
The former The Great British Bake Off star also fondly remembered the freezing early mornings filming inside the famous Bake Off tent, joking: “It was about those jackets and I could tuck a hot water bottle underneath because the tent was so cold.”
But the night became deeply emotional again when Mary admitted she wished her parents were still alive so she could share the milestone with them.
“You just wish your parents were still alive and you can call them up and say, ‘Guess what mum’,” she said.
Mary has previously opened up about the devastating loss of William during an appearance on the Rosebud podcast with Gyles Brandreth.
Recalling the tragic day, she explained that William had borrowed a sports car and was travelling with his sister Annabel when the crash happened.
“He just drove too fast, which was so unlike him,” she said.
Mary heartbreakingly remembered how people initially assumed it had been her other son Thomas involved in the crash because William had always been viewed as the “reliable” child.
“When the phone rang after he was killed, everybody said ‘I’m so sorry to hear about Thomas, because Thomas was our wild one’,” she revealed.
The TV legend also recalled the haunting moment police arrived at the family home.
“I remember saying to him, ‘It must be an awful thing for you to tell us all’,” she said.
In one particularly emotional memory, Mary described the relief she felt after realising daughter Annabel had survived the accident.
“I suddenly saw Annabel, in a pink tracksuit, running up towards me, and I thought, ‘I’ve still got her’.”
The moving speech quickly became one of the standout moments of the night, with viewers praising Mary for her grace, honesty and strength decades after the tragedy that forever changed her family.
