Jean-Marie Le Pen: Family which dominates the French far-right in profile
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Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of the French far-right, has died aged 96 after suffering suspected heart problems. 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.
![[Marine Le Pen, who would go on to lead National Rally, was the youngest of her father’s three daughters]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/07/12/France_Obit_Le_Pen_92310.jpg)
The former paratrooper founded the party in 1972 but it was only when he handed the reins to his daughter Marine Le Pen in 2011 that his rebranded party really caught sight of power. Ms Le Pen made efforts to distance herself from her father’s controversies since then, including his Holocaust denial and sympathy for France’s Vichy government, which collaborated with the Nazis.
![[Marine Le Pen hoped to make National Rally more electable and even expelled her father in 2015]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/07/12/France_Obit_Le_Pen_30893.jpg)
Despite this, it has often been said Ms Le Pen’s “brutal” upbringing and family life under her father left a mark on her worldview and politics. Here, The Independent takes a look at the history of the Le Pen family and how the National Front has changed over the years.
Born in 1928, Le Pen described himself throughout his life as “ni droite, ni gauche, français” - not right, not left, but French. He came of age during the Algerian War between 1952 and 1962, where he served as a French paratrooper and resented former French president Charles de Gaulle for ending the conflict.
-founder-Jean-Marie-Le-Pen-attends-a-May-Day-ceremony.jpeg?trim=50,0,51,0&quality=75&auto=webp&width=1000)
