Celine Dion's husband and manager Rene Angelil planned every detail of his funeral prior to his death to ease his superstar wife's pain, according to the singer's longtime stylist.
Rene's friends and family members are due to gather on Friday (22Jan16) for a ceremony at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, Canada, where he married Celine in 1994, and everything will be in accordance with the music mogul's last wishes, as he organised the service before losing his battle with cancer on Thursday (14Jan16).
"Rene was generous enough to prepare all of this since the last few months with Celine (sic)," the couple's longtime friend Annie Horth tells People.com. "He didn't know when it would happen, but he really wanted everything to be already prepared."
As a result, Celine is "going through (this mourning process) peacefully and with control," the stylist adds.
Fans have been invited to pay their respects to Rene, who would have turned 74 on Saturday (16Jan16), during A Chapel of Rest event at the Basilica on the eve of the funeral (21Jan16).
His obituary, published following his death, read: "According to his final wishes, his funeral will be held at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, where 21 years ago, he chose to marry the one who will remain as the great love of his life, the artist for which he had the most respect, the woman who gave him light and happiness until his very last breath."
A Celebration of Life tribute ceremony for Rene will also be held on 3 February (16) at the Caesars Palace Colosseum in Las Vegas, where his wife has been a regular performer for years.
Rene also asked for those unable to attend the tribute events to pay their respects by making donations to the Azar-Angelil Research Chair for ORL Cancer - a research branch at the Saint-Luc hospital in Montreal dedicated to discovering cures and treatments for cancers of the head and neck.
