Shane MacGowan's wife was shocked by his death

Writing in the Daily Mail, she said: "We always assumed that Shane would live to be at least 80 and neither of us believed that he would not recover after he was hospitalised in Dublin for viral encephalitis earlier this year.

"I don't know if it's better to be prepared for death but it's probably different for everyone and it came as an enormous shock to me when he died, at 3.30am on November 30.

"Mercifully, he looked very peaceful and there was an immediate atmosphere of grace in the hospital room. He was surrounded by thousands of angels in the moment of his passing and they filled us all with love and peace.

"He actually died during the last rites which was hugely comforting because he was devoted to his faith and he prayed constantly and took Holy Communion every day.

"I honestly don't remember what Shane's last words were but I think he said, 'thank you'. He said thank you a lot. In fact the nurses commented on how often he expressed his gratitude to them."

Meanwhile, Victoria also praised actor Johnny Depp - who read a prayer at Shane's funeral and helped to carry the coffin - for coming to their rescue after Shane was fired from The Pogues in 1991.

She wrote: "Shane got thrown out of The Pogues in 1991 because his drinking and drug-taking were so hard to deal with. He had a huge sense of relief even though he was incapacitated with hepatitis at the time.

"Johnny Depp came to our rescue in 1993 when he invited Shane to open his Viper Room club in LA and they worked together on Shane's new album 'The Snake' and the video for 'That Woman's Got Me Drinking'.

"Shane was feeling more of a sense of freedom and we were having a lot more fun, even though life was still chaotic. We loved to meditate together and we would spend days just listening to music and writing together."

And, Victoria revealed she and Shane were "blissfully" happy in the final years of his life. despite his ill-health.

She said: "The last few years of our life together were the happiest and most blissful, even though Shane was in a wheelchair after breaking his pelvis in 2015.

"We were able to find a really deep sense of appreciation for just being together, just hearing each other speak, seeing each other's faces.

"We had millions of moments of pure joy, just knowing that we were together, and we were never in any doubt about our love for one another. I have never known anything like the love that I felt for him and continue to feel."