The contents of Shane MacGowan’s will have been revealed following his death last year.
Beloved Irish singer-songwriter MacGowan died on November 30, 2023, at the age of 65 after being diagnosed with encephalitis, an uncommon but serious condition which causes inflammation of the brain.
MacGowan – who had endured a series of health problems in the months prior to his heartbreaking death – was survived by his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, 58, who has been left a hefty sum following her loss.
According to reports, the Fairytale of New York hitmaker’s estate was valued at €849,733, which is approximately £700,000.
As to be expected, a significant percentage of his wealth can be attributed to the success of the Christmas tune, as per the Irish Mirror.
Aside from inheriting almost €850,000, Clarke has also been left the Ballsbridge home in Dublin which she shared with her late husband.
It was previously stated that should Clarke predecease MacGowan, or if they had died simultaneously, his sister Siobhan Hayes would have been the beneficiary of his entire estate ‘for her own absolute use and benefit’.
Clarke married MacGowan in a ceremony in Copenhagen in 2018 and remained by his side throughout his health woes in later life.
After losing him, she attended grief counselling to help her manage.
Speaking recently on the What A Woman podcast, Clarke revisited the couple’s decision not to have children, saying starting a family simply ‘wasn’t part of [their] story’.
She added that she doesn’t think children ‘would have really survived’.
‘I’ve never understood [the idea that everyone should want to be a parent]. That would be like you telling me that everybody should want to be a bungee jumper or a racing driver – I can’t understand that. It doesn’t make sense to me,’ she said.
‘I can see how people think that having children is going to give them some kind of continuity, something will live on when they die or maybe somebody will look after them when they’re old. I can see that because there’s a practical side to it. But I just never…’
Clarke also opened up about mourning the loss of MacGowan, whose funeral was attended by the likes of showbiz pal Johnny Depp carrying his coffin.
Despite having been told that her husband ‘didn’t have very long to live,’ she was not prepared for him to die.
‘It’s nothing that you could ever really prepare for, I don’t think. I’m sure there are people listening who’ve had a similar sort of situation, but until it’s happened to you, you don’t know how you will react.’
She added that his death was ‘something that [she] would have been afraid of for a very long time’ because people warned her he didn’t have long shortly after they started dating in 1986.
‘People started telling me that Shane probably had six months to live, because of the way he pushed [himself]. I spent most of the time worrying about him and worrying that something was going to happen to him.
‘But even then, because you’ve worried about something, it doesn’t mean you know what it’s going to be like. It’s like worrying about a car crash. Until you’ve been in a car crash, you just don’t know what it will really feel like.’
Following MacGowan’s death, his widow believes he has contacted her in the afterlife.
The Irish journalist, who was engaged to MacGowan for 11 years before they wed, believed she received a ‘nudge’ from him last Christmas, her first one on her own.
She believes this sign came from ‘the other side’ and encouraged her to pick up the guitar after years of not playing.
Last year, she revealed that MacGowan was ‘surrounded by thousands of angels’ as he died and that there was an ‘atmosphere of grace’.
Writing for The Mail, she said that he ‘looked very peaceful’ in his final moments.
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