Once called the 'most hated man in France', Le Pen maintained that his ideas were simply 'ahead of their time'

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s main far-right party and a polarizing figure in French politics, is being buried in a private family ceremony in his hometown of La Trinité-sur-Mer in Brittany.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, has died aged 96. Le Pen, who led the party for nearly four decades until 2011, when it was called National Front (FN), had previously been taken to hospital with suspected heart problems.

For years, the far-right National Rally tried to distance itself from Mr. Le Pen’s racist and antisemitic remarks. But after his death Tuesday, it hailed him as a visionary.

Over 1,000 people attended a memorial ceremony Thursday in central Paris for the founder of France’s main far-right party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last week at the age of 96.The “mass for the repose of the soul” at Notre-Dame du Val-de-Grâce church took place under tight security,

“History will judge” the legacy of far-Right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron has said. The French president’s comments came as he and his government avoided any outright criticism of the late firebrand following his death on Tuesday aged 96.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded France's far-right National Front party, died at 96 years old. Le Pen was a controversial and confrontational figure.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of Marine Le Pen and the defining figure of France’s postwar far-right movement, has died at the age of 96, according to French network BFMTV.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s main far-right National Front party and an unrepentant extremist on race, immigration and multiculturalism, has died aged 96. Le Pen had been in a care facility for several weeks and died at midday on Tuesday “surrounded by his loved ones”, the family said in a statement.