Pogues singer Shane MacGowan marries girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke after 32 years together

Shane MacGowan marries
(Image credit: Rex Features)

The Pogues star Shane MacGowan has married his girlfriend of 32 years.

The musician married long-term partner, Victoria Mary Clarke, yesterday in a ceremony in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The 60-year-old singer, best known for the classic Christmas song Fairytale of New York sung with Kirsty McColl, met his journalist wife, now 52, when she was 16-years-old. The couple got together four years later, before eventually getting engaged 11 years ago.

They finally tied the knot in a low-key ceremony in the Danish capital surrounded by family and friends, including Hollywood legend Johnny Depp. The actor has been a close friend of Shane’s for the last few decades, and reportedly played guitar for the couple on their big day.

Shane MacGowan marries, Shane MacGowan and Victoria Mary Clarke

Credit: Getty

Victoria, who has built a successful career as a journalist and broadcaster, skipped out on the traditional white dress bridal look and opted for a striking orange gown with a dainty floral headband and a matching bouquet.

Her new husband went for a blue suit and trilby hat and attended his nuptials in a wheelchair, which he has used for the last few years after damaging his back in a bad fall.

Speaking ahead of the couple’s big day, Victoria told the Irish Independent: ‘Shane and I are both introverts and 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.

‘But I have discovered something about weddings that I had not realised. People really, really want to show that they love the people that they care about.

‘So, much as we might have liked our wedding to be a non-event, and because we have found it impossible to keep it a total secret, a few of our friends and family have elected to make it a tiny but beautiful thing.’

Big congratulations to the very happy couple!

Aleesha Badkar
Lifestyle Writer

Aleesha Badkar is a lifestyle writer who specialises in health, beauty - and the royals. After completing her MA in Magazine Journalism at the City, the University of London in 2017, she interned at Women’s Health, Stylist, and Harper’s Bazaar, creating features and news pieces on health, beauty, and fitness, wellbeing, and food. She loves to practice what she preaches in her everyday life with copious amounts of herbal tea, Pilates, and hyaluronic acid.