I told you I was Irish

An amusing postscript today regarding the headstone on Spike Milligan, a pioneer of post-war English comedy, who died a couple of years ago. Spike had frequently joked that he wanted his epitaph to be "I told you I was ill," and he now has his wish, with a twist:

However, the inscription had to be written in Gaelic in order for it to be approved by the Chichester Diocese.
It now bears the words "Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite"

Besides the BBC story linked above, we've read a couple of others and they are all unclear on what exactly the hold-up was -- getting the family to agree on the wording, or the language, or likewise for the Diocese. Spike was an Irish citizen despite having spent much of his life presuming (like his fans) that he was English. His father was Irish, his mother was English, but he was born in colonial India and was thus caught in a citizenship limbo by a tightening of UK citizenship rules regarding overseas births in the 1950s. He was of course still entitled to UK citizenship under the new rules but it seemed consistent with his brand of comedy to take the Irish route. But we don't know how much that played into the choice of language on the headstone.

UPDATE JUNE 15 2005: Spike's citizenship also figured in his receipt of an honourary and not an actual CBE:

[London Times] On This Day - June 16, 1992

CONFUSION surrounding the apparent snub of Spike Milligan in last weekend’s Birthday Honours was resolved yesterday with the confirmation of one of Britain’s best loved comedians as an honorary CBE.

News had leaked out before the weekend that the former Goon, 74, a comedy favourite of the Prince of Wales, was to appear on the list ... Yesterday it became clear that, because he is an Irish citizen, he could not figure in the list but was entitled to one of the honorary awards which are announced later.