Well-known faces from the world of stage and screen expected to attend Kathleen Watkins' funeral

Hundreds of mourners are set to gather today to pay their final respects to Kathleen Watkins.

The wife of the late Gay Byrne died in the Blackrock Clinic last week, just days after the fifth anniversary of the death of the former Late Late Show host. Kathleen had just celebrated her 90th birthday on October 17.

Mrs Watkins' funeral cortège will leave Howth at 11am on Tuesday for a Requiem Mass at noon at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook, followed by a private burial.

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Speaking in the wake of Ms Watkins' death, her daughter Suzy Byrne told Liveline host Joe Duffy that her mother suffered from a fall last Christmas Eve on the way to mass and had been in and out of hospital ever since. She described her final days surrounded by her family and her grandchildren.

Suzy said: "She had a fall on her way to mass on Christmas Eve. It set off other things. I wouldn't say she had ill health over the last year but she had been in and out of Blackrock for long stints over the last year.

"She became that person in Blackrock that every time she went back in, she would ask if she could please go back to her friends on the first floor in the Fitzgerald unit and last Sunday, when we brought her in again for her final time, they immediately had a bed waiting. They were in and out of her room, whether they were on duty or not. They couldn't do enough for her. They were fabulous."

Suzy said her family spent the last few nights sleeping on the floor and in beds next to their mother. "The children wrote to her on her 90th. I asked them would they write a letter to her to tell her all of the things that she meant to them so they did that. They left no stone unturned. The each spent alone time with her this week and read their letters again to her."

Suzy said "she knew she was loved", saying: "She passed away at a time that was her most favourite day, which was as the sun rises. She was always a very early riser. She was always up before the dawn often so it was quite appropriate that she went today.

"We're devastated but at the same time we realise how lucky we were. She was unbelievable. The friendships she had with everyone – she was adored."

Ms Byrne called into her late father's grave on Thursday following her mother's death, saying "she was ready to go to dad".

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