Shane MacGowan was ‘surrounded by angels’ when he died, his wife has said (Picture: ANL/REX/Shutterstock)
Shane MacGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke has shared the final moments of his life.
The legendary Irish musician died in November aged 65, weeks before his birthday on Christmas Day.
MacGowan had suffered from serious health issues for some time, and had been in hospital for months after contracting encephalitis, a condition affecting the brain.
The Fairytale of New York singer was discharged from hospital in November, celebrating his and Clarke’s fifth wedding anniversary at home, before dying ‘peacefully’ days later.
Clarke has now recalled the moment of his death, saying he was ‘surrounded by thousands of angels.’
The journalist and author, who has written books about her experiences seeing angels, said his death was peaceful – but she never expected him to die.
Victoria Mary Clarke described the moment her husband died in ‘peace’ (Picture: Rex/Shutterstock)
Writing in the Daily Mail, Clarke said: ‘We always assumed that Shane would live to be at least 80 and neither of us believed that he would not recover after he was hospitalised in Dublin for viral encephalitis earlier this year.’
She wrote of the moment he died, at 3.30am on November 30: ‘Mercifully, he looked very peaceful and there was an immediate atmosphere of grace in the hospital room.
‘He was surrounded by thousands of angels in the moment of his passing and they filled us all with love and peace.’
MacGowan died while receiving the last rites, she said, which she found ‘hugely comforting’ as he was ‘devoted to his faith.’
Despite his illness, Clarke described MacGowan’s final years as ‘the happiest and most blissful’ of their lives.
Clarke had helped care for MacGowan in his final years (Picture: X / Instagram / Victoria Clarke)
‘We were able to find a really deep sense of appreciation for just being together, just hearing each other speak, seeing each other’s faces.
‘We had millions of moments of pure joy, just knowing that we were together, and we were never in any doubt about our love for one another. I have never known anything like the love that I felt for him and continue to feel.’
Clarke went on to share her gratitude to actor Johnny Depp, who was a close friend of MacGowan’s throughout his life, coming to his ‘rescue’ when he invited the musician to open his club Viper Room, and working with him on his solo album The Snake.
She shared an insight into his long friendship with Johnny Depp (Picture: Getty)
Depp spoke at MacGowan’s funeral and even helped carry his coffin, going against orders from his security.
Clarke previously thanked the ‘loyal’ Depp for helping her get through her grief in the days after MacGowan’s death.
She wrote on Twitter, aka X: When you lose a loved one you need to be able to focus on the blessings and I want to thank #johnnydepp for being a tower of strength and for supporting me and @ShaneMacGowan in so many ways with such respect and compassion and loyalty.’
Clarke and MacGowan wed in 2018 and the pair celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in November.
While only marrying in the last few years, the couple had been together for decades, first meeting in the early 1980s.
Clarke and MacGowan had been together for decades, only marrying in 2018 (Picture: Getty)
She announced his death with a heartbreaking post on Instagram, writing: ‘
Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese.’
She went on: ‘I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures.
‘There’s no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world. Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music.
‘You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much. You meant the world to me.’
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MacGowan died ‘surrounded by angels.’