Shane MacGowan’s wife Victoria shares throwback photo of Pogues singer with Johnny Depp

Hollywood actor is a long-time friend of MacGowan’s, and played guitar at their wedding in 2018

Shane MacGowan and his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, have been flooded with messages of love and support from the Pogues singer’s fans, as the couple celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary.

The Pogues star and Irish author Clarke were married in an intimate ceremony at Copenhagen City Hall in 2018, surrounded by their loved ones. Among them was MacGowan’s long-time friend Johnny Depp, with whom he has collaborated on a number of occasions.

Actor and musician Depp, who plays in a band with rock singer Alice Cooper, also played guitar at the wedding.

MacGowan, 65, has just returned home after a lengthy stay in hospital, where he was treated for viral encephalitis, a rare and potentially life-threatening condition that causes the brain to swell.

Clarke marked the couple’s wedding anniversary a few days later with a photo posted to her social media accounts.

“One of my favourite pictures of our wedding which was five years ago today,” she wrote on Instagram on Sunday 26 November.

“Getting to Copenhagen was quite an achievement and I suppose just getting through some of the stuff that we all went through to get to be still alive was a massive achievement! It was a beautiful thing to feel so much love from everyone who made it possible, a wedding is very much a collaboration.

“Love to Vanessa Clarke, Jenny Rose and Toby and @annam_simmonds @rosasimmonds @olanclarke @mollybracken Alex, Marina Guinness @brittmiaow @sophiawaapitira @sarahelizaleahy @miccronin @croninjohnny @orlamaryclarke David Coon, Ruadhan Mac Eoin, Gerry O Boyle #johnnydepp and @sunstrokehouse and of course @bella_freud for the beautiful dress!”

Clarke has spent the past months sharing updates with fans from the singer’s bedside, including photos of him greeting visitors including his former bandmates, and Irish singer Imelda May.

On Wednesday 22 November, she posted a photo of MacGowan smiling in a hospital bed wearing a scarf and a bobble hat.

“Shane got out of the hospital!” she wrote. “We are deeply and eternally grateful to all of the doctors and nurses and staff at St Vincent’s it’s the best!

“And special thanks to Tom Creagh and Brian Corscadden for your help.”

MacGowan rose to fame in the early Eighties as the frontman of Anglo-Irish band The Pogues, who combined a punk-rock sentiment and politically charged lyrics with their use of traditional Irish instruments and folk references.

They are best known for their hit single “Fairytale of New York”, the 1987 duet with Irish singer Kirsty MacColl that is widely regarded as one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.

MacGowan’s birthday happens to be fall on Christmas Day, 25 December.