An 81-year-old former vicar who married a Romanian model 54 years his junior has died alone in a hospital in Bucharest, leaving his fortune to his husband who says he is ready to ‘enjoy his inheritance’ after two days of grieving.

Philip Clements, a retired Church of England priest, passed away overnight on May 31 in a hospital room that was closed to visitors amid the coronavirus pandemic

Widow Florin Marin, 27,  said he was upset after Mr Clements passed away but that two days of mourning ‘is enough’ and his late husband would not want him to be sad.

He admitted he was looking forward to enjoying the £150,000 he will get 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. 

‘People will think that I am a widow with a black hat who is crying, and I did cry, but two days is enough’, Florin told Mail Online.

‘Philip didn’t want me to cry, he wanted people to be happy whatever happened. 

‘I don’t want to show people my feelings because my husband died, because some people take advantage of that and there are people who are happy because of your sadness,’ he added.

‘I am 27 years old and I’m not challenged.’

Florin will enjoy a £2,000 British widower pension for the rest of life unless he remarries. 

‘He was my husband and this is my right,’ he said, adding ‘it’s not my fault that he left me with this money’.

The couple met on the online dating site Gaydar and got married three years ago in Mr Clements’ hometown Sandwich, in Kent.

Their rollercoaster relationship has hit the headlines a number of times, with the pair experiencing turbulence early on when Mr Clements tried living in the Romanian capital Bucharest. 

In 2017, the newlyweds spilt after only five months together, leaving Mr Clements broke and homeless after he sold his £215,000 home to be with Florin.

They got back together after Mr Clements agreed to an open relationship, saying Florin could date other men and go clubbing with people his own age.

Mr Clements had been using his church and teaching pension to help pay for their living expenses in their two-bedroom Bucharest home before falling ill.

Florin said his husband suffered from a number of health conditions and was prevented from seeing his GP in the UK because of lockdown measures to slow the coronavirus spread. 

After developing a high fever he was rushed to hospital where he tested negative for coronavirus. He was then transferred to a cardiac ward, but slipped into a coma and was placed on life support. 

Florin said he received a call around midnight on May 31 from the hospital confirming that his husband had passed away.

Describing his final moments with his partner, he said he handed nurses a letter to give to Mr Clements, and told him that ‘everyone who loved him was praying for him in England and that the cat was fine and missing him’. 

Mr Clements will be cremated and his ashes spread in ‘a park with a lake in Bucharest’ as directed in his will.  He requested a private funeral attended only by his widower and a handful of relatives and friends as well as a simple religious ceremony held in his memory.

Florin said he will find an Anglican priest to conduct the ceremony as opposed to an Orthodox priest from the socially conservative and anti-gay marriage Romanian Church.

He said he had provided regular updates to Mr Clements’ UK family and friends on his husband’s ailing health and although he was rejected by one of the brothers, he is ready to ‘forgive what happened in the past’ for the sake of his husband.

Florin has previously addressed accusations he is a gold-digger, saying he does not like the term but does not care what people say.

When the pair exchanged vows, Mr Clements had said he wanted it to be high profile as he was making a stand against the rule that clergy are barred from same sex marriage in the Church of England.

At the time he said: ‘I’ve taken up many weddings, and I’ve almost gave up hope thinking I would be part of my own’.

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