Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery paid an emotional tribute to her fiancé John Dineen as he was laid to rest on Wednesday.
Ms. Dockery referred to the Cork native as “my hero, my king, my everything” as friends and family said their final goodbyes a day before what would have been the PR consultant’s 35th birthday.
According to The Independent, she said:
“Whether in his work or his personal life, John was extremely loyal. It was clear that when John was in your corner, he was there.
“I was honoured to know John, to love him and be loved by him. He was my friend, my king, my hero, my everything. We celebrate him, we honour him and we will miss him.”
She then sang a rendition of The Folks on the Hill from the altar, noting that she was unsure about singing, but that John’s father was “just as persuasive as his son.”
Mourners heard that John was “proverbially tall, dark and handsome” but also deeply intelligent and caring, as much at home at social occasions with his fiancée as “talking to the owner of a coffee shop”, the publication reports.
Gifts brought to the altar included his favourite childhood toy, a stuffed monkey, a Munster rugby and a tie to signify his professional successes.
Mr. Dineen, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer fifteen months ago, passed away at Cork’s Marymount Hospice earlier this week.
