An 81-year-old retired British vicar who attracted headlines in Romania after he married his 27-year-old Romanian boyfriend has died in a Bucharest hospital, the Daily Mail reported Friday.
Philip Clements, a retired Church of England vicar, died overnight on May 31 in the Elias Hospital.
The pair caused a stir when they married in Kent, in southeast England in 2017 because of the age difference and because Clements was a retired vicar and Marin was a model. Their relationship, peppered with splits and reconciliations, also made headlines.
Romania does not allow same-sex marriage and in the past didn’t even recognize same-sex unions from other countries.
Marin told the Mail he was upset after Clements passed away but that two days of mourning ‘is enough’ and that his late husband would not want him to be sad.
The paper reported that he is in line to inherit £150,000 from a life insurance policy, a £100,000 house that was put into his name before Mr Clements died, and a £2,000-a-month-for-life pension.
Marin said that Clements became sick with a fever last month after he ran out of medication during the coronavirus lockdown, before being taken to hospital. He tested negative for COVID, but died overnight on May 31.
Once in hospital, Florin said he was separated from his husband as he was placed on a quarantined coroanvirus ward amid fears he had the disease.
Tests came back negative and Clements was transferred instead to a cardiac ward, but slipped into a coma and was placed on life support.
‘Philip didn’t want me to cry, he wanted people to be happy whatever happened,’ he said.
Marin said Clements’ ashes will be spread in a park in accordance with his will.
He said he wanted an Anglican priest to conduct the service rather than a priest from the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is opposed to same-sex unions.
