Shane MacGowan was 'surrounded by thousands of angels' when he passed away

23 December 2023 , 22:11

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Shane MacGowan was 'surrounded by thousands of angels' when he passed away

Shane MacGowan, the lead singer of The Pogues, was "surrounded by thousands of angels" when he passed away, according to his beloved wife Victoria Mary Clarke.

The grieving wife also shared that she didn't expect the 65-year-old singer to die after suffering from viral encephalitis. Victoria had hoped that Shane would be spending Christmas at home, but sadly the singer passed away shortly after leaving hospital for the first time in months.

Victoria 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. I don't know if it's better to be prepared for death but it's probably different for everyone and it came as an enormous shock to me when he died, at 3.30am on November 30."

Shane McGowan was surrounded by thousands of angels when he died, his wife has said (victoriamaryclarke / Instagram)

Kirsty MacColl and Shane McGowan

Victoria added: "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."

She also revealed: "He actually died during the last rites which was hugely comforting because he was devoted to his faith and he prayed constantly and took Holy Communion every day. I honestly don't remember what Shane's last words were but I think he said, 'thank you'. He said thank you a lot. In fact the nurses commented on how often he expressed his gratitude to them."

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Victoria also thanked actor Johnny Depp, who read a prayer at Shane's funeral and helped carry the coffin. She praised him for supporting them after Shane was fired from The Pogues in 1991 due to his drug use. "Shane got thrown out of The Pogues in 1991 because his drinking and drug-taking were so hard to deal with. He had a huge sense of relief even though he was incapacitated with hepatitis at the time," she said.

"Johnny Depp came to our rescue in 1993 when he invited Shane to open his Viper Room club in LA and they worked together on Shane's new album 'The Snake' and the video for 'That Woman's Got Me Drinking'."

"Shane was feeling more of a sense of freedom and we were having a lot more fun, even though life was still chaotic. We loved to meditate together and we would spend days just listening to music and writing together."

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]

Susan Knox