Disgraced former BBC presenter Huw Edwards has been stripped of a major membership after pleading guilty to making indecent images of children.
It was originally reported that Edwards, who anchored coverage of historic royal and political events throughout his decades-long career, would not have his awards rescinded.
However, he has now been stripped of his membership of the prestigious Gorsedd of the Bards Welsh Arts Association.
Edwards, 62, has become the first person ever to be expelled from the group, made up of poets, writers, musicians, artists and other creatives, due to being dishonoured.
The board of trustees at Eisteddfod Court, which runs a yearly Welsh language arts festival, announced today it was expelling the veteran broadcaster.
Members of the Gorsedd are said to have made a distinguished contribution to the Welsh language and culture.
Edwards has also been removed from the Eisteddfod itself.
A statement released by the National Eisteddfod said: ‘Following a unanimous vote at today’s Eisteddfod Court meeting, the board of trustees has decided to activate section four (a) (iv) of the constitution to terminate Huw Edwards’ membership of the Eisteddfod and, as a result, he will also be expelled from Gorsedd Cymru.’
Every year, the festival sees thousands of visitors travel to different venues across Wales and is the largest event of its kind in the country.
The Gorsedd of the Bards takes part in the ceremonies of some of the festival’s events, which include brass band competitions, poetry contests and dancing displays.
It comes after Edwards admitted to having indecent images of children last week, with seven of the 41 images being of the most serious type.
BBC Director General Tim Davie later defended his decision to employ Edwards until April, five months after he was told of Edwards’ arrest in November over the most severe category of indecent images of children.
Edwards resigned from the BBC in April ‘on the basis of medical advice from his doctors’ after unrelated allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.
Police found no evidence of criminal behaviour in the matter.
Edwards will next appear in court on September 16.
Meanwhile, unlike the Bards Welsh Arts Association, Bafta, the Royal Television Society (RTS), and the Television and Radio Industries Club (Tric) have decided against rescinding awards for BBC reporting on historic moments, such as the Queen’s funeral.
Deadline reports the three organisations ruled the awards recognised the work of the whole production team, rather than Edwards’ presenting skills.
However, it said Bafta had yet to decide on seven individual awards handed to Edwards, who is originally from Wales, from its Welsh off-shoot Bafta Cymru Awards.
A Bafta spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: ‘Like everyone in the industry and country we were shocked by the news – given the seriousness of this abhorrent crime, we are reviewing.’
BBC coverage involving Edwards that has won a Bafta includes Princess Kate and Prince William’s wedding in 2011.
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Edwards has not won an individual RTS award, but the BBC won its Live Event gong for the Queen’s Funeral, which it will retain.
A spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: ‘Our Live Event category for the RTS Programme Awards is presented to a programme as a whole and the team behind it. We are therefore not reviewing or rescinding this award from 2023.’
Edwards has never won a Tric Award but accepted an award on behalf of his team at the BBC for covering the Queen’s funeral.
A Tric spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: ‘The BBC Events team won the Tric Award for Live Event coverage of The State Funeral HM Queen Elizabeth II [in 2023]. On the day Huw Edwards spoke on behalf of the team to accept the award.’
It comes after reports the BBC will edit and dub a Doctor Who episode starring Edwards. It has been removed from iPlayer.
In the 2006 episode Fear Her, his voice was heard as a news commentator and it’s been claimed BBC bosses will replace it with an actor’s.
A source told The Mirror: ‘It’s going to be hard for the BBC to airbrush Huw out of the news events he covered, but the Doctor Who episode should be straightforward.’
It has yet to be confirmed what will be happening to other footage and news coverage Edwards fronted, as well as an appearance on Would I Lie To You and a Christmas duet with Sir Tom Jones in 2013.
One insider told The Times, according to MailOnline: ‘The bulletins will be full of archive footage of him which is obviously awkward.
’There will have to be discussions about the archive but no one was expecting him to plead guilty today, so that key issue is not one that has been solved yet.’
In a statement, following Edwards pleading guilty, the BBC said: ‘In November 2023, whilst Mr Edwards was suspended, the BBC as his employer at the time was made aware in confidence that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail whilst the police continued their investigation.
‘At the time, no charges had been brought against Mr Edwards and the BBC had also been made aware of significant risk to his health.’
The corporation added: ‘The BBC is shocked to hear the details which have emerged in court today. There can be no place for such abhorrent behaviour and our thoughts are with all those affected.
‘Today we have learnt of the conclusion of the police process in the details as presented to the court.
‘If at any point during the period Mr Edwards was employed by the BBC he had been charged, the BBC had determined it would act immediately to dismiss him. In the end, at the point of charge, he was no longer an employee of the BBC.
‘During this period, in the usual way, the BBC has kept its corporate management of these issues separate from its independent editorial functions.’
Last month in a London court, Edwards pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images of children between December 2020 and April 2021.
The child abuse materials that were sent to Edwards by 25-year-old convicted paedophile Alex Williams included seven Category A, the worst, 12 Category B, and 22 Category C.
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Of the category A images, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between seven and nine, the court was told.
His guilty plea came after a year of headlines about Edwards, which started when he was named as the presenter at the centre of a scandal over payments to a young person for sexually explicit images.
Before Edwards resigned on medical advice in April, he was the broadcaster’s highest-paid newsreader, with a pay bracket between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24, according to the BBC’s latest annual report.
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Metro.co.uk has contacted RTS, Tric and Bafta for comment.
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