Who Is Shane MacGowan's Wife, Victoria Mary Clarke?

Shane MacGowan first met his future wife Victoria Mary Clarke in a London pub in 1984, per The Irish Mirror, just as The Pogues were beginning to attract a sizeable following for their singular unique blend of Celtic rock and folk. MacGowan was already a minor celebrity on the London pub music scene, and Mary Clarke had reportedly gone with her boyfriend at the time to see his band play.

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She was just 16 at the time, and MacGowan was already in his mid-20s. The pair didn’t officially start dating until four years later, but Mary Clarke has described their first interaction as a memorable encounter, with the Pogues vocalist accosting her at the bar and telling her to buy him and his bandmate Spider — a neighbor of Mary Clarke’s — a drink. Mary Clarke told RSVP Live that MacGowan looked “extraordinary,” and that she couldn’t resist his charisma. Their relationship was cemented by the fact they were both romantics. They were eventually married in a private ceremony in Stockholm, Denmark, in 2018. Three days before his death, Mary Clarke shared a previously unseen photograph of their wedding day to celebrate their fifth anniversary, per The Independent.