Rev Richard Coles – who is on the Great Celebrity Bake Off tonight (Sunday, April 14) – sadly lost his husband back in 2019.
Last year, four years on from his husband’s death, Richard opened up about finding love again, having previously thought he never would.
Rev Richard Coles on death of his husband
Back in 2019, just before Christmas, Richard’s husband, David, died.
David had been battling alcoholism for several years, something Richard claimed his late husband was “deeply ashamed” of.
Speaking in 2021, Richard confessed that he wished he’d spent more time with David.
“I realised, suddenly, that in trying to fill my life with as much incident and interest as I could I had neglected important things of home and hearth. I wish I’d spent more time with David. I wish I’d prioritised doing nothing with David more. Not seeing that as a holiday from things, but as the centre of thing,” he told The Guardian.
‘David was the love of my life’
He also admitted he sits by David’s grave and speaks to him.
“It’s such a trope of sentimental films, isn’t it? That you sit by the lost one’s grave and talk to them. But actually one of the conversations I have with David in death is to take the [bleep] out of him. I tease him for lying in ignominy, now, in such an insalubrious corner of the churchyard. He would have hated it. He did like his luxuries,” he said.
Later in the interview, Richard waved away the idea of finding love again.
“The possibility of romance is so far from my imaginable life that I can’t even countenance it. I’m not saying I want to sit in the corner stirring polenta in a black shawl for ever. But David was the love of my life. And I just can’t imagine ever having two of those,” he said.
Rev Richard Coles on finding love again
Last July, during an appearance on Lorraine, Richard spoke about finding love again with actor Dickie Cant.
Richard ‘Dickie’ Cant has appeared in several well-known TV shows, including Doctor Who, The Crown and It’s A Sin.
“I wanted to meet someone who had been around the block and wanted to share a life with someone. I thought I was out of the game when David died,” Richard said.
He then went on to say that losing David and then heading back into the dating scene made him feel like “a polar bear coming out of hibernation and looking for a seal”.
However, he revealed that dating apps gave him some confidence.
Richard and Dickie Cant
During an interview with The Sunday Times, Richard revealed that his first date with Dickie was at a Royal Horticultural Society “because that’s what old gays do”.
He confessed that he knew he’d want to see Dickie again before they’d even finished their lunch. “And then it just went very quickly, really,” he said.
Speaking on Kaye Adams’ podcast last year, he said: “Here’s an odd thing about meeting a new person. Most of the people in my life, my closest friends, are family to me really. We’ve known each other for 40 years. I haven’t got 40 years to devote to somebody else or to uncover stuff about them, so you try and cut to the chase.
“So, me and Dickie, my new bloke, he’s got his own history too. We have to sort of find a sort of shorthand for all that stuff because we simply haven’t got time to get it all in the bank if you see what I mean,” he then continued.
“So, it’s interesting. And I said the other day – I think our legs have taken us further than our journey ought to have gone. Because it’s just faster. Because we haven’t got time. And because we’re heading in the same direction we know where we want to go. So we’re shifting along nicely.”
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Read more: Strictly star Richard Coles reveals he’s found love again following sad death of husband
The Great Celebrity Bake Off airs tonight (Sunday, April 14) at 7.40pm on Channel 4.
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