Ed Sheeran heartbroken as his beloved Irish grandmother who inspired one of his hits dies
LONDON, ENGLAND: Ed Sheeran's beloved grandmother, Anne Mary, has reportedly died. Endearingly known as Nancy Sheeran nee Mulligan of Gorey, she died peacefully at the Castle Gardens Nursing Home in Enniscorthy on Tuesday, April 25.
Nancy is expected to be laid to rest on Wednesday, May 3, after a funeral service at St Patrick’s Church, Monaseed, Gorey. Sheeran's grandmother was remembered by the family as a "loved wife of the late Bill and loving mother of Jim, Bill, Peter, Chris, John, MaryAnne, Bridget and the late Sally and sister of the late Thomas, Jim, May, and Peggy." Her demise is "deeply regretted by her loving sons, daughters, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, niece, nephews, relatives, friends, and neighbors," per a statement.
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Who inspired Ed Sheeran's 'Nancy Mulligan'?
According to the Daily Mail, Nancy was the inspiration behind Sheeran's hit 'Nancy Mulligan', considered among the acclaimed crooner's most personal songs from his 2017 album 'Divide.' It tells the story of how his late grandfather William, a Protestant from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Nancy, a Catholic from the Republic of Ireland, fell in love during the Second World War and tied the knot at the Wexford border.
"They got engaged and no one turned up at their wedding," Sheeran previously said of the story, adding, "He stole all the gold teeth in his dental surgery and melted them down into a wedding ring, and they wore borrowed clothes to get married, and just basically have this kind of Romeo and Juliet romance, which is like the most romantic thing. So I thought I'd write a song about it and make it a jig." Nancy and William had a total of eight children and 23 grandchildren.
'He's so tired but he loved it'
After the song was released, a heartwarming video emerged of Nancy enjoying the tune for the first time back in 2017. "I’ll never think of him as being famous, I have to say," she said in an interview with RTE News, adding, "He’s exactly the same as he always is when he visits. And it’s very rare because he’s always working and when you think he was working from the age of 14, you’d have to feel sorry for him, you know he’s so tired but he loved it."
Sheeran was close to both his grandmothers and even wrote 'Supermarket Flowers' in 2017 dedicated to his late maternal grandmother. The hitmaker would reportedly visit his terminally ill grandmother almost daily during her final months. In 2020, he revealed that he was still close with many of the staffers at the Aldeburgh Hospital in Suffolk, who he said took such good care of his grandmother until the day she died.
"I was lucky enough not to be on tour during my grandmother's final months, and because I lived locally I was able to visit her every few days," Sheeran explained in an essay he penned for the book 'Dear NHS: 100 Stories to Say Thank You'.
"The care she received was incredible; the people who worked there were so lovely, compassionate, funny, and caring. When she passed away I wrote a song called Supermarket Flowers about the situation. The verse lyrics are about packing up her room at that hospital," he continued, adding, "Me and my family became very close to the nurses who worked there and my mum is still in touch with them now. I see them from time to time when I'm in the area and it's like meeting old friends."