Liam Payne’s One Direction bandmates among mourners at singer’s funeral

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LONDON — The former members of One Direction reunited Wednesday for the funeral of bandmate Liam Payne.

Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson joined friends and family at the service for 31-year-old Payne, who died after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires last month.

A horse-drawn carriage carried the coffin to St. Mary’s Church in Amersham, 40 kilometres northwest of London. Undertakers carried the dark blue casket with silver handles, topped with white roses, into the 800-year-old church for the private service.

The funeral location was not made public in advance to prevent a large crowd from gathering, though dozens of local people and fans still gathered nearby.

“Growing up, I was a massive fan of One Direction, so I almost felt like a little piece of the child in me was gone,” said 20-year-old Tara Lloyd, who works at the nearby Amersham Hospital.

The crowd fell silent when Payne’s parents, Geoff and Karen, emerged from a car to stand beside the carriage, which was topped with floral tributes reading “Son” and “Daddy.” Payne had a 7-year-old son, Bear, with the singer Cheryl Tweedy.

Among the mourners was Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy, actor and presenter James Corden, former soccer player Robbie Keane and music mogul Simon Cowell who put One Direction together.

After the service, Cowell embraced Payne’s parents outside the church, before the late singer’s coffin was driven away in a black hearse.

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One Direction formed in 2010 after the five teenagers auditioned for “The X-Factor” as solo acts and were brought together by Cowell, a judge on the show. With their loyal fan base of “Directioners” they became one of the most successful boy bands of all time.

After the group split in 2016, Payne embarked on a solo career which failed to match the success of One Direction. He was also open about struggling with his mental health and alcohol amid the pressures of fame.

Prosecutors in Argentina said that Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system when he fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of his room at the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentine capital on Oct. 16. They have charged three people over his death, with “abandonment of a person followed by death” and “supplying and facilitating the use of narcotics.”