First PHOTOS of Celine Dion in public since husband’s death

Rene Angelil died of cancer at the couple’s home in Las Vegas on January 14.

“The Dion-Angelil family gave me enormous support during my career”, he said.

A viewing will be held at Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica, with members of the public able to pay tribute between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.

The national funeral service for Angelil will take place on Friday, Jan. 22 at Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica.

Celine Dion is planning to return to stage by the end of next month.

“I understood that my career was in a way his masterpiece, his song, his symphony”, writes Dion of her late husband, who shepherded her from teenage prodigy to internationally beloved, chart-topping superstar. “They let me sing with her twice and to meet her in Paris”.

Dressed in a black veil and gown, her hair in a bun, with her eldest son Rene-Charles at her side, Dion received condolences from relatives, senior politicians and others, as fans filed past Angelil’s open coffin.

While most Quebecers knew Angelil only for his personal and professional relationship with Dion, he was known to a generation for being in a band called Les Baronets in the 1960s.

The 47-year-old lost her husband and brother to cancer within a span of merely two days.

Struck by her voice, Angelil quickly took her under his wing. The singer is scheduled to take the stage at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on February 23.

His funeral is set for Monday, just outside Montreal in the family’s hometown of Charlemagne.