From Italian neo-fascist Giorgio Almirante (1914-1988), Jean-Marie Le Pen had borrowed the tricolor flame symbol. And he had admired his funeral: a ceremony in the heart of Rome, bringing together thousands of nostalgic supporters of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), the coffin pushed through the crowd's outstretched arms to enter a church on the Piazza Navona, in which all the representatives of Italian political parties, right up to the communists, had packed together. The historic French far-right leader, with his outsized ego, would have liked a similar unanimous and grandiose tribute, but he "certainly" didn't believe in it, as he said to Les Inrockuptibles in 2012, aware of his status as "the devil of the Republic."

In recent weeks, the few supporters of Le Pen's politics who have dared to broach the subject have tended to favor a strictly private funeral, which would have the double advantage of avoiding qualms among elected representatives and the most radical far-right elements rallying at the commemoration, as they are figures that Le Pen's daughter Marine has preferred to keep at a distance. On Tuesday, however, the family's entourage spoke of organizing an open religious ceremony, to be held in Paris at a later date.

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