Covid: Engelbert Humperdinck's wife dies after contracting virus

Engelbert Humperdinck and his wife Patricia in October 2002

Engelbert Humperdinck's wife Patricia has died after contracting Covid-19.

In a statement on Facebook, the singer said he was "heartbroken" over the loss of his "darling wife", who had had Alzheimer's disease for more than a decade.

He added her "battle with Alzheimer's was brave from the very beginning" and she had "she slipped softly away, as if by God's clockwork".

The couple married in 1964, after meeting at a nightclub in Leicester.

'Forever and always'

Humperdinck, born Arnold George Dorsey, said his wife was surrounded by three of their four children, Louise, Jason and Brad, when she died on Friday, with their fourth, Scott, on video call.

In a tribute to his wife, Humperdinck - who topped the UK singles chart with his hits Release Me and The Last Waltz in the 1960s - wrote: "She never resisted as we tried to leave no stone unturned.

"We love you beyond words, forever and always... Goodnight my baby."

'A wonderful romance'

The couple during Humperdinck's Las Vegas Walk of Stars dedication ceremony in July 2011

Humperdinck, who has a home in Great Glen, in Leicestershire, but is currently staying at his home in California, wrote in an earlier Facebook post on Thursday: "Her Alzheimer's and the blow from Covid have left her in need of all the love she ever gave out to come back to her a million-fold."

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The couple met in 1953 at Leicester's Palais De Danse nightclub when Patricia was 17.

When Patricia was interviewed by the BBC several years ago about their first meeting, she said: "The night that I saw Enge, it was just something different.

"He stood out because he had got this wonderful white suit on.

"I thought 'God, how gorgeous'. But he looked at me and smiled and I thought, 'He's conceited. He knows that I like him'.

"So he sent his friend over to ask me to dance. This guy said, 'My friend's a singer and he'd like to dance with you'.

"I said, 'Oh really? Why doesn't he ask me himself?'

"Eventually he did and we went on his friend's motorbike and that was the beginning of a wonderful romance."

Engelbert Humperdinck, his wife Patricia and three of their children - Bradley, Louise and Scott Dorsey - in August 1991

Humperdinck had previously asked his fans to pray for their family after disclosing last month the virus had "found a way" into his home.

His agent later said he had tested positive but was asymptomatic.

Humperdinck also represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 with the song Love Will Set You Free.