Sir Michael Palin still "imagines" his late wife is with him

He told the new issue of Saga magazine: "I can see why people say it takes two years or so before your response gradually changes. It becomes less about loss and more about the spirit of that person being around, so that's very nice.

"I feel less grief now, and more that I've got to keep on doing things, looking after the children we made together.

"I talk to myself as if she's there. I'll show some spectacular bit of incompetence that I know she would have found funny, then I'll hear myself saying something in the way she would have said it and I'll laugh, even though I'm the only one there.

"Imagining her being there makes me laugh."

The Monty Python star - who has Thomas, 56, William, 53, and Rachel, 49, with his late wife - insisted he isn't "moping" but he has no plans to embark on a new relationship.

Asked about the possibility of finding love again, he said: "We were a unit for so long. You can never begin to replace a relationship which lasted 60 years.

"I'm OK living on my own, then I go off to Venezuela or somewhere. I'm not moping."

Although Michael had some concerns about being on his own after Helen's death, he is pleased to find he has been able to cope "quite" well.

He said: "I didn't want to be dependent on the family to come around every day. I don't cook, unfortunately. There were various areas like that where I thought I might be a bit vulnerable.

"But it turns out I'm quite good at being on my own. The other person who guides me through that is actually Helen."

Michael admitted a few months ago he has no plans to leave their marital home because he can feel Helen's "presence" there.

When asked if he will ever move out of the house, he told The Times newspaper: "I don't feel that way - at the moment, anyway. Everything around me has a story or something that reminds me of time we spent together, not in a maudlin way.

"Just they are the props of your life. Get rid of all those props and I'd be in a different play, playing a different character. And I don't want to do that.

"I know it seems odd, but I carry on as though Helen is still here. Her clothes are still in the cupboards. I don't want to change my life, because I feel she wouldn't want that either. It's still a nice house to come back to. I feel her presence here."