Members of pop group One Direction were reunited alongside music mogul Simon Cowell as they attended the funeral of bandmate Liam Payne on Wednesday.
Singers Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson joined other guests at the private funeral in Buckinghamshire to remember Payne following his death aged 31 last month.
Styles, dressed in black, arrived alongside TV star James Corden and the pair went straight inside the church, while X Factor judge Cowell arrived with his fiancee, Lauren Silverman.
A horse-drawn carriage arrived at the church carrying a dark blue coffin with silver handles, topped with white roses. On top of the carriage, there was a red floral tribute which said “son” and a blue tribute which said “daddy”, in reference to the son, Bear, that Payne shares with Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy.
Silence fell upon the crowd as Payne’s father Geoff and his mother Karen got out of a vehicle and stood behind the reverend, next to the carriage.
[ Liam Payne obituary: Pop icon who remained an enigmaOpens in new window ]
Other guests attending include Payne’s girlfriend, US influencer Kate Cassidy, who arrived alongside Damian Hurley, the son of model Elizabeth Hurley. Girls Aloud singers Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh were dropped off in front of the entrance of St Mary’s Church in Amersham wearing long black coats and sunglasses.
Capital radio DJs Chris Stark, Jordan North and Sian Welby all paid tribute, as well as new BBC Radio 2 breakfast host Scott Mills, former professional footballer Robbie Keane and broadcaster Adrian Chiles.
JLS star and TV presenter Marvin Humes, who met Payne when he first auditioned for The X Factor in 2008, attended with his wife, The Saturdays singer Rochelle Humes.
Rev Jonny Rapson, the vicar who led the service, said in a statement: “We will continue to hold Liam, his family and his loved ones in our prayers on what must have been a very difficult day.”
Before the funeral starting dozens of locals and fans gathered to pay their final respects to Payne, who died on October 16th after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
Following Payne’s death fans around the world held vigils in his memory, including a shrine to the late star in his hometown of Wolverhampton.
He died of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage”, a postmortem examination report said.
He rose to fame alongside Styles, Tomlinson, Malik and Horan when Cowell put them together to form One Direction on ITV talent show The X Factor in 2010.
Payne later went on to launch a successful solo career, releasing his debut solo album LP1 in December 2019, which included the songs Polaroid and Strip That Down featuring Quavo. – PA
