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AJ Pritchard pays tribute to late grandmother in touching post

AJ and Curtis Pritchard attended their grandmother's funeral. (Photo: Karwai Tang/WireImage)
AJ and Curtis Pritchard attended their grandmother's funeral. (Photo: Karwai Tang/WireImage)

AJ Pritchard has paid tribute to his late grandmother Angela Gratton after laying her to rest with his family.

The dancer was competing in I'm A Celebrity when she died following a battle with dementia in November and while he knew she was ill before heading into the Welsh castle, he agreed with his family that he wouldn't be informed until he left the contest.

He shared pictures to Instagram of himself and his Love Island star brother Curtis Pritchard looking wearing black suits and masks for the service as he wrote: "RIP. 93 years young...

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"Nanna found great pleasure in making everyone feel happy. Whether that be making sure you had a cuppa tea in one hand or making sure you were sat down & warm in the house."

"Whilst I never talked about my job with Nanna ; it always brought me great pleasure that Nanna would describe this person on the television that danced. She would go on to say that he looks just like you, sounds like you, he even has the same name as you, & Nanna would read about him in the newspaper all the time. This will always be a treasured memory of mine," he went on.

In his post, the former Strictly star also shared videos of his grandmother dancing and laughing along with several photos.

"Dear Nana we really miss you, & wish with us, you’d always be, but since God wants you too, I’ll keep your memories alive in me. Love you Xx," he added.

AJ finished 6th in the ITV reality programme, exiting the castle with Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah.

Sharing the news of their grandmother’s death to Instagram last month, Curtis explained why his sibling wouldn’t be told about her death immediately.

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He stated: “It is following our grandad's wishes that myself and AJ are to carry on with the current projects we are committed to.

"Grandad said to myself and AJ that it would break his heart for us to stop what we were doing as Nanna had such pride in our work.”

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