OLIVIA KEMP: How Ruth Langsford sent a VERY pointed message about 'loyalty' by enjoying a jolly to Wimbledon with Eamonn Holmes' son - who's no longer speaking to his father: 'Things are at a pretty ugly stage'

Tennis fans may have been glued to their screens watching Centre Court at Wimbledon this week, but a huge part of the attraction are the celebrities sitting courtside – and their plus-ones.

David Beckham brought his mother, actor Richard E. Grant went along with his daughter and Tess Daly took her best friend Gayle Lawton.

Yet Ruth Langsford’s choice yesterday could hardly have been more telling.

For accompanying the presenter, 66, to Centre Court was Niall Holmes – the youngest son of her estranged husband, Eamonn.

Dressed in a lime green blazer and oversized sunglasses, Ruth appeared entirely at ease as she settled into her seat beside her former stepson, leaning in to chat with him before dissolving into fits of laughter.

At one point, Ruth was even seen wiping tears from her eyes as she giggled beside the 32-year-old, whose mother is Eamonn’s first wife, Gabrielle Holmes.

To onlookers it may have appeared to be nothing more than a sweet family day out at SW19.

But given the context of one of television’s most bitter marital breakdowns, the photographs carried rather more weight than that.

Because, as the Daily Mail’s Katie Hind revealed last year, Niall’s relationship with his father is said to have completely broken down in the context of Ruth and Eamonn’s increasingly acrimonious split.

As the former television couple prepare to come face to face in court later this year to fight over their £12million fortune, Wednesday’s outing offered the clearest glimpse yet of where loyalties lie within the fractured clan.

Niall, who previously worked for the couple brokering endorsement deals and personal appearances, is understood to have had a ‘blazing row’ with Eamonn, 66.

One source said: ‘Niall and Eamonn had a massive fall-out. There was a huge row following his split from Ruth. Things were said between them that cannot be unsaid. It must be heartbreaking for Eamonn.

‘Eamonn accused him of siding with Ruth while Niall hit back about his dad’s behaviour. This all happened more than a year ago and they haven’t spoken since. Niall adores Ruth.’

Indeed, those close to the family say Niall’s affection for his stepmother runs deep and that, having witnessed the breakdown of the marriage from close quarters, he made a conscious decision about where his loyalties lay.

‘It was all very tricky at the beginning of the split. Lots of things were said behind closed doors so Niall knows what really happened, things which are not in the public domain, and he has made a call,’ the source added.

‘Eamonn is, of course, upset and is sharing news of the fall-out with his friends now.

‘He’s still close to his eldest son Declan – who has two little girls, Emilia and Isabella – and daughter Rebecca, but they have been caught in the crossfire of his falling-out with Niall. The feud doesn’t look like it will resolve itself anytime soon.’

It’s also understood that Jack, 23, the son Eamonn and Ruth share, has also sided with his mother. Before announcing the split with Eamonn, Ruth set Jack up in a flat in Salford. A source said: ‘Things remain strained between him and his father.'

‘It’s fair to say that things between Eamonn and Ruth are at a pretty ugly stage now,’ another source says.

Other friends of the pair – who were together for 27 years and married for 14 – say their ‘love has turned to absolute hatred’ as they have viciously argued over how their former marital home and money should be divided.

One source described relations to the Daily Mail as ‘a huge mess’, with neither side prepared to give in.

Other sources say the situation is unlikely to thaw while Eamonn’s new girlfriend Katie Alexander is around. It’s thought some of Eamonn’s family take a dim view of his romance with the marriage counsellor, 22 years his junior.

It has been reported that Eamonn and Katie, 43, were first in touch 12 years ago, when it’s claimed they exchanged flirty messages.

And it is suggested that, in the year before their split, Ruth learned Eamonn had been showering Katie with gifts.

But both Eamonn and Katie, who was also married, insist nothing went on until both their marriages ended. The fact they are still together is said to have ‘gone down like a lead balloon’ with Eamonn’s family.

But Katie is said to be one of the only people who can make Eamonn smile of late. His health remains concerning – and he’s still said to be bitter about how he was sacked from ITV, where he was a co-presenter of This Morning, along with Ruth.

Both issues were said to have contributed to his marriage breakdown: his debilitating back condition made him difficult to live with, and an operation in 2022 left him incapacitated for a time.

He’s also said to have embarrassed Ruth when he lambasted ITV bosses for sacking him while she was still working on the channel’s Loose Women.

Then came the announcement of their split, which was put out as a ‘joint statement’, but in fact left Eamonn furious, as he was said to have wanted nothing to do with it.

Ruth has been praised for her dignity but has had moments of quiet revenge.

Although she declined to comment, sources confirmed she removed the stairlift installed at their former marital home, a £3.6million mansion in Weybridge, Surrey, needed to help Eamonn get upstairs.

When he next visited to fetch belongings for a trip around Europe with Katie, Ruth had made herself scarce – but knew he’d struggle with the staircase.

Eamonn and Katie were later pictured in Barcelona, where they boarded a cruise ship to tour the Mediterranean before stopping off at Ibiza.

Ruth is recently understood to have been granted a ‘severance of joint tenancy’ on their six-bedroom property, meaning Eamonn would no longer have a claim on her share of the home, which the couple bought in 2014.

‘It’s all a nightmare,’ said one source. ‘And these things have an effect on family relations, especially when it comes to Eamonn and his youngest sons. They don’t like to see Ruth upset.’

The perception Eamonn has hurt Ruth also hasn’t done him any favours with the public.

Once a ‘guaranteed seller’ when magazines put him on the cover, his stock has certainly fallen since. Sacked by ITV in November 2021, a war of words between him and his former bosses swiftly broke out. Eamonn accused bosses of being ‘sly’ over his exit and ‘hypocritical’ about ITV’s diversity drive.

In turn, the channel insisted that its research showed he was unpopular with viewers, which led to him and Ruth being replaced by Alison Hammond, 51, and Dermot O’Leary, 53.

Eamonn then joined GB News in 2022, where he’s understood to earn a much bigger salary than his fellow hosts on the breakfast show.

But it’s not all been plain sailing. Last April, the presenter fell off his chair during an interview and weeks before, he went missing for 40 minutes before the show ended.

In April this year, GB News announced that Holmes had been taken to hospital after suffering a stroke.

While the Daily Mail was assured he will return to the programme, it is uncertain how long he will be able to work for.

Indeed, friends say Eamonn does ‘really need the money’ due to a long-running battle he has had with HMRC – and last year he had to sell his Belfast home.

‘It’s not the easiest to be Eamonn Holmes right now,’ said a friend of his. ‘But he is just so happy to have Katie in his life.’

It’s sad, then, that romance appears to have come at some significant cost to Eamonn – in more ways than one.

Because while they say blood is thicker than water, on Centre Court this week it was hard to escape the feeling that some loyalties run deeper still.