Shane MacGowan, the Irish singer-songwriter most famous as the frontman of The Pogues and the voice behind “The Fairytale of New York," has married Victoria Mary Clarke in Copenhagen, Denmark.
MacGowan has been with his partner for 32 years and the pair have been engaged for 11 years. They were married at a civil ceremony, surrounded by friends and family, on Tuesday.
Congratulations to Shane MacGowan and Victoria Mary Clarke for finally tying the knot after 32 years of being together! Wishing both of you all the best! pic.twitter.com/Ziui7Do48Z
— Karo (@DazedKaro) November 27, 2018
Clarke announced the couple’s wedding in the Sunday Independent. She said:
“Marriage is a scary business, a big commitment. You might know that you have met ‘The One’, the minute you lay eyes on them across a crowded bar. You might have been mesmerized, enchanted, and entirely convinced that you couldn’t live without them. But you have to be certain.”
She went on to describe them as a couple as a “pair of introverts” and said never of them wanted a traditional wedding.
“We decided that the only solution was to just elope together to someplace that we know nobody and nobody knows us, and keep it a secret. Which is what we have done.
“There will be a tiny civil ceremony in an anonymous City Hall, there will be no white dress, nobody will be ‘given away’, there will be no flower girls or page boys or matrons of honor. We haven’t even got wedding rings.”
MacGowan wore a trilby hat and a dark navy suit while Clare wore a read Bella Freud gown with a flower headress.
Thank you for the wonderful dress @bellafreud @BellaFreudLDN !!! pic.twitter.com/zGkgXRdYev
— Victoria Mary Clarke (@Victoriamary) November 26, 2018
The Pogues singer’s friend, Johnny Depp, was among the guests. The Hollywood A-lister also played guitar during the ceremony.
MacGowan and the “Fantastic Beasts” star have been pals since they teamed up in 1996 to record the track “That Woman’s Got Me Drinking” for the album “The Snake”. They even performed on “Top of the Pops” together.
#JohnnyDepp at Shane MacGowan’s wedding in Copenhagen. (November 26th, 2018)
— Johnny Depp Love (@JohnnyDeppLoveo) November 27, 2018
Credit to the owner. pic.twitter.com/BIzMOpIyg2
Sadly, MacGowan’s father Maurice and sister Siobhan were absent. The pair were detained in Dublin as Maurice recovers for surgery at home. Siobhan told the Irish Sun “I’m here in Dublin as dad is in hospital at the moment — but he should be coming out Saturday, so all should be well.
“We are delighted for Shane and Victoria; just very sorry we can’t be there but know they’re going to have a fabulous day. I hope their future shines!”
MacGowan and Clarke have been together for 32 years. The couple has spoken about getting hitched in the past and in 2001 they joked that they would sell the exclusive rights of their wedding photos to OK! Magazine for half a million pounds.
Shane MacGowan.
The couple split in the early 2000s, due to MacGowan’s battles with substance abuse but, surprisingly it was Pete Doherty, the frontman of the Libertines, who persuaded them to give it another go.
Clarke told the Sun “After I left Shane, I was even more miserable, even though I replaced him with a good-looking guy who wore clean suits and drank only in moderation.
“It occurred to me that when I thought of Shane, I didn’t think of the bad times — I felt only love.
“It’s easy to feel love for someone you have just met but if you still feel it so strongly after 20 years — after you’ve both been with other people and dealt with alcoholism and depression — then it must be really special.
“We started meeting again and at the start of this year we realized that we were probably going to spend the rest of our lives together. We were out one night with Kate Moss, whom we’ve known for years, and Pete Doherty.
“They were talking about the possibility of them marrying and Kate asked Shane: ‘Why don’t you buy Victoria an engagement ring?’
“We both laughed but then we thought, ‘Why not?’ After all, we have already been through the ‘sickness and health, richer and poorer, better and worse’ thing.
“So, Shane bought me a ring — silver with garnets — and I’ve bought him one that’s silver with an amethyst.”
MacGowan celebrated his 60th birthday in January with a star-studded event held at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Performers and well-wishers on the night included Bono, Johnny Depp, Sinéad O’Connor, trad queen Sharon Shannon, Cait O’Riordain, Steve Wickham of the Waterboys, and Carl Barat from the Libertines.
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