Prince overdosed on the painkiller Percocet that
he was taking for a chronic hip problem six days before his death. His
body was secretly cremated at the First Memorial Western Chapel prior to
a private and emotional ceremony with family, and after a four hour
autopsy at the Minnesota medical examiner's office.
His cremation began an hour after his body arrived, and his family waited four hours to receive his ashes, the Daily Mail reported.
Because he was a Jehovah's Witness he had to have his funeral services carried out within a week of his death.
A family member told The Mirror:
"Throughout his life and following his Jehovah's Witness faith Prince
made it clear to his family that if he ever were to be taken from us he
wanted to die with dignity.
"He had very precise ideas about how he wanted his
death to be handled and that didn't involve a huge funeral but a quiet
service.
"He wanted it to be kept to the minimum of
fuss. Prince was such a figure you don't need a funeral to remember him
by. The world has his music instead. He wanted to simply disappear with
no fuss, no drama, no fanfare. It was just his style.
"It could not have been more different to Michael Jackson's service, that was full of Hollywood razzmatazz.
"Tyka
was adamant," the family member added, "that she didn't want to leave
him. Although in the past they often endured a fraught relationship in
recent years and right now she has been like a rock throughout these
dark days.
"As his only full blood relative alive Prince always looked out for Tyka, and now she is doing all she can for him."
Tyka Nelson and her husband Maurice Phillips are set to profit from Prince's death.
It is most likely Tyka who will inherit her
brother's estimated US$800 million fortune if he did not write out a
will. She is Prince's only full sibling and remaining relative. He had
no children or wives.
As his closest living relative, Tyka stands to
inherit a fortune. Prince's estate has been conservatively estimated at
US$300 million, with an additional US$500 million music catalogue
because he owned both the master recordings and his own music
publishing.
He also had a large stash of unreleased music.
The reclusive singer had grown closer to his
55-year-old sister in recent years but there was a period, particularly
when she was battling a crack cocaine addiction and dabbling in
prostitution, when their relationship became fraught.
Prince's fortune is estimated to rake in many more
millions in coming weeks due to the increase in sale of merchandise and
music since his death.
The 'Purple Rain' hitmaker, who was found dead at
his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota on April 21, had to be given a
"save shot" almost a week before his passing after he became reliant on
the highly-addictive drug, which contains acetaminophen and oxycodone,
to treat the acute pain he was battling in his joints for years, TMZ reports.
Prince - who had used a cane to help him get around for many years - had long needed a double hip replacement but reportedly turned it down on numerous occasions because he was worried it would require a blood transfusion, which would have conflicted with his beliefs as a Jehovah Witness.
A post-mortem was carried out on Prince's
body yesterday and it confirmed there had been no trauma or violence in
the time leading up to the singer's death. And, although it could be
weeks before his cause of death is revealed, the Examiner's Officer has
stated there is "no reason to believe" that Prince had committed
suicide.
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