LIAM Payne, the One Direction member who died last month after falling from a Buenos Aires hotel room, was laid to rest in Britain on Wednesday.
Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson were among the mourners who attended the private funeral service at St Mary’s Church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, close outside London.
Payne’s two sisters, girlfriend Kate Cassidy, and former partner Cheryl Tweedy, with whom he has a son, all attended his weeping parents.
About a dozen fans watched from behind a nearby cordon as visitors hugged before marching past flower tributes inside the 12th-century church to pay their last respects.
“Because his death was such a public death, to have the funeral privately… I think it was very nice,” said Amersham resident Sheila Morris, 65.
“It’s a beautiful church… it’s a very beautiful place for a funeral,” she went on.
Payne’s casket was followed by his parents in a white horse-drawn hearse adorned with floral tributes spelling the words “Son” and “Daddy”.
Payne was discovered dead on October 16 after falling from the balcony of his third-floor room at the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentine capital.
His death at the age of 31 sparked a global outburst of sorrow from family, former bandmates, and fans, with thousands converging in cities around the world to express their condolences.#