On Christmas Day, which would have been his 66th birthday, Shane MacGowan’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, paid heartfelt homage to the late singer, who died on November 30.

The 58-year-old journalist took to Instagram to share a poignant snapshot of the couple, admitting that the holiday season has been more difficult than she had anticipated.

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues’ frontman, had been suffering from viral encephalitis and had been released from a Dublin hospital just before his death, surrounded by his family.

Victoria, who had been in a relationship with Shane since the age of sixteen, captioned the post: ”Today is really really hard much harder than I expected it to be. I just can’t stop crying and I want to be with him so much it physically hurts.”

‘I don’t know how people get through this but I do know that they do and people do feel joy even after they lose their person,’ she says.

‘Shane always said that even though he was born on Christmas Day he was much more focused on it being Jesus’ birthday and he felt like that was the most important thing about Christmas so I am asking for Jesus and the angels to help me today,’ she continues.