I’m A Celeb finalist Richard Coles heartbreaking tribute to partner five years on from his death

Reverend Richard Coles shared a sweet post on his social media on what would have been his late husband David Coles' 48th birthday

Reverend Richard Coles took to social media to share a touching tribute to his late husband who tragically died five years ago.

The 62-year-old, who recently finished in third place on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me posted an emotional tribute on his Twitter/X page on Tuesday on what would have been Reverend David Coles' 48th birthday. In the upload, Richard shared a snap of David wearing a face mask while standing in front of the pair's four dogs.

He captioned the post: "David’s birthday today. He would have been forty eight. RIP."

Fans were quick to share messages of support and condolence with the star in the reply section. One user wrote: "What a fabulous photo. I love that normality in it. I am in the last days with the love of my life and I can’t comprehend how we got here so suddenly and how I will face life without him in it. Such a beautiful kind funny soul."

Another added: "It’s mine today, first one without my dad in 45 years, we lost him in September, it’s so hard Richard but we have to strong, we are placing his memorial plaque today too, im a big mess. Sending hugs to you on this difficult day xx." Richard sweetly replied with a one word response: "Solidarity!"

A third follower said: "Omg that’s so young. Sorry for your loss. May he rest in peace," while a fourth wrote: "Huge hug x"

Richard and David were together for 12 years before David's death in 2019. David, also a clergyman, was only 43 when he died of liver disease in 2019, caused by an alcohol addiction that had gripped him since his teenage years.

Richard had previously opened up on his loss, saying: "I often think if someone dies of drink as people used to say, that people filed them under a sort of tragic, squalid death. David was so much more than that. I wanted to get a sense of why David was so important to those who loved him before we got to a discussion of what killed him.”

Richard and David first got together in 2007. They entered into a civil partnership three years later and David took Richard's surname. At the time, Richard assured the church their relationship was celibate. However, he recently confessed this was a lie to enable him to keep his job as a vicar. In an interview with The Times, he said: "I felt sometimes like I was in the resistance and they were the Gestapo."

During his stint Down Under in the I'm A Celeb jungle, Richard opened up to fellow campmates about his previous relationship. He spoke with eventual winner Danny Jones of McFly about how they had initially met. He said :" I came to preach a sermon in his church and he sort of picked me up afterwards!

“He heard me preach and afterwards he said that he was thinking about getting ordained and could he come and talk to me about it. So he came round one Sunday for lunch and it was all very proper and professional”.

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