Marine Le Pen cries at memorial service for the far-right father she humiliated – days after expressing ‘regret’ for expelling Jean-Marie from the party he founded

Marine Le Pen was overcome with emotion today as she attended the memorial service in honor of her father, far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, in Paris – days after she said she would ‘never forgive herself’ for expelling him from the party had set he has set up.

National Rally delegate Le Pen – the youngest of Jean-Marie’s three daughters – was seen sobbing outside Notre-Dame Val-de-Grâce church, where a mass in honor of her late father was held this morning.

Jean-Marie, a controversial figure in France known for his fiery rhetoric and Holocaust denial, died on January 7 at the age of 96 in a care facility where he had been staying for several weeks.

The founder and former leader of the populist National Front (FN) – which later became National Rally (RN) – handed over leadership of the party to his daughter in 2011.

Just four years later, she expelled her father from the party over a comment he made that the Holocaust – the systematic murder of millions of Jews by the Nazis – was a “detail of history,” comments for which he was also condemned.

Less than a week after her father’s death, Le Pen told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche that her decision to expel him from the party was one that caused him “tremendous pain.”

She said her father’s expulsion from the party was “one of the most difficult decisions of my life”, adding: “Until the day I die, I will always ask myself whether I could have acted differently.”

National Rally delegate Le Pen – the youngest of Jean-Marie’s three daughters – wept outside the Val-de-Grâce church

Supporters gather outside during a memorial service for French far-right figure Jean-Marie Le Pen

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the French political party Front National, embraces his daughter Marine Le Pen in 2013

Marion Marechal, Jean-Marie’s granddaughter, leaves after a religious ceremony to pay tribute to the late French far-right figure Jean-Marie Le Pen

Le Pen was buried after his death last week in a private funeral in his hometown of La Trinité-sur-Mer in southern Brittany.

The larger public crowd today saw hundreds of people gather to watch the event, which was broadcast on a large screen to the public outside the Catholic Church.

Mourners dressed in black and French tricolors were waved, while an RN banner was hung from the railing.

Marine folded her hands together in a show of gratitude for the huge crowd of supporters who had gathered.

There was a large police presence at the event, which was reportedly attended by Éric Zemmour and other far-right figures.

President Emmanuel Macron described Le Pen as a “historic figure of the far right” and said “history will judge his impact on France’s political landscape.”

Macron’s political nemesis Marine, who led RN for years and now leads it in parliament, said it was “a bit unfair to judge (my father) only in the light of these controversies” that characterized his life.

“His political career spanned almost 80 years and it was inevitable that there would be issues that would cause controversy, unless you were some kind of lightweight Sarkozyite (supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative former president) or socialist,” she said. “The sad thing is that he became involved in these provocations.”

Le Pen was known for his fiery rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism, which won him both loyal supporters and widespread condemnation.

Marine Le Pen thanks the crowd gathered outside her father’s memorial service this morning

Marine Le Pen was comforted today by a fellow mourner outside the service in Paris

A flag of the French far-right party National Rally (Rassemblement National – RN) hangs near the Notre-Dame du Val-de-Grace church

Eric Zemmour leaves after a religious ceremony to pay tribute to Jean-Marie Le Pen

People wait in front of a large screen with a photo of the deceased French far-right figure Jean-Marie Le Pen

He shook up the French political establishment when he unexpectedly emerged in the second round of the presidential election against Jacques Chirac in 2002, a dramatic rise that many attributed to his populist appeal and charisma.

His daughter has since run for president three times and turned the party, now called the National Rally, into one of the country’s most important political forces.

was a Marine not at her father’s bedside and received news of his death during a stopover in Kenya on the way back from a visit to the cyclone-hit island of Mayotte, according to French media.

“You will not be able to console me for this sadness,” she wrote in a tribute on X alongside a black-and-white photo of her as a child, carried by her father.