French cinema icon Brigitte Bardot was laid to rest in Saint-Tropez on Wednesday January 7th, following an intimate funeral service in the seaside town she called home for over half a century.
Prince Albert II of Monaco paid discreet tribute to the 91-year-old actress, sending a red and white floral wreath in Monaco’s national colours to the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. Though the Prince did not attend in person, local florist Régis Eberwein confirmed he placed the order. “It was a beautiful gesture and a real surprise,” Eberwein said, according to local reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron also sent a wreath but did not attend. His office had offered to organise a national tribute similar to that held for actor Jean-Paul Belmondo in 2021, though Bardot’s family declined.
Bardot, who died on December 28th at her home in the French Riviera, was honoured at a private Catholic service attended by around 400 invited guests. Her son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, received his mother’s wicker coffin on the church steps, accompanied by his children and grandchildren.
The ceremony drew attendees reflecting Bardot’s varied legacy, including far right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, animal rights campaigners, and figures from the film industry. Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd charity, told AFP: “Brigitte was my friend for 50 years,” adding that he had attended “to recognise her incredible contribution to protecting animals around the world.”
Cancer battle and final days
On the eve of the funeral, Bardot’s husband Bernard d’Ormale revealed she had died from cancer after undergoing two operations. Despite being hospitalised twice in late 2025, she insisted on returning to her beloved villa, La Madrague, where she spent her final days. “It was uncomfortable, even when she was bedridden,” d’Ormale told Paris Match magazine. “However, she remained conscious and concerned about the fate of animals until the very end.”
Hundreds of people gathered at Saint Tropez’s port to watch the service on large screens. The ceremony featured musical tributes, including a cappella performance by singer Mireille Mathieu, and was adorned with images of Bardot with her dogs and a famous photograph of her cradling a baby seal.
Max Guazzini, a friend and secretary general of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, said in a speech: “Sadness is overwhelming, and pain too,” according to the Associated Press.
Following the service, a hearse carried the actress through the town’s narrow streets to the Marine Cemetery, where Bardot was buried at her family’s grave alongside her parents and grandparents. Her first husband, filmmaker Roger Vadim, is also buried in the same cemetery.
The actress, who retired from film in 1973 at the height of her fame aged 39, spent more than half a century in Saint Tropez, the town she helped transform into the international destination it is today. She then devoted her later years to animal rights activism through her foundation, through remained a remained a divisive figure due to five convictions for inciting racial hatred.
A public commemoration was then held later on Wednesday afternoon, allowing members of the public to pay their respects.
In a statement released following her death, Saint-Tropez town hall said: “Brigitte Bardot will forever be associated with Saint-Tropez, of which she was the most dazzling ambassador. Through her presence, personality and aura, she marked the history of our town.”
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Photo credit: fondation Brigitte Bardot