Poignant farewell to Brigitte from the grandchildren she barely knew: Bardot’s son and his family turned out for her funeral despite fraught relationship – and the little great-granddaughter who looks just like her

Among the mourners at Brigitte Bardot’s funeral, a little blonde girl in a navy blue velvet hat and smart coat stood out among the hundreds who gathered to pay their respects.

The teenager is the great-grandson of the late cinema icon and resembles the French film legend, who died aged 91 in December.

As she walked hand in hand with her mother, Anna Charrier Bjerkan, to the ceremony at the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church in Saint-Tropez, she was accompanied by her older sister and brother, all of whom are Brigitte’s grandchildren.

Also present were Anna’s sister Thea Charrier and their father Nicolas Charrier, 65, Brigitte’s only son.

The show of family unity was especially touching, given the strained relationship between Brigitte and Nicolas, who had been estranged from each other for decades throughout his life.

After declaring that she would rather ‘give birth to a dog’, she estranged herself from Nicolas after divorcing his father, Jacques Charrier, leaving his upbringing to her ex-husband’s grandparents.

Although they later reconciled, she admitted that she did not have much contact with Nicolas’ two daughters and ‘their three young Norwegian grandchildren who do not speak French’.

The family, united in grief despite past troubles, ensured that even the youngest individuals had the opportunity to say goodbye to their unknown great-grandmother.

Brigitte Bardot’s son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier (left) walks in the procession behind the hearse to carry his mother’s coffin

Anna Charrier and her daughter Brigitte came to Bardot’s funeral

Bardot’s relationship with her son Nicolas

Brigitte gave birth to her son Nicolas-Jacques in 1960, while she was married to actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she starred in the movie ‘Babette Goes to War’.

At that time, she stated that pregnancy was the biggest tragedy and that she never accepted motherhood.

‘I looked at my flat, slim belly in the mirror like a dear friend whose coffin lid I was about to close,’ she wrote in her memoirs.

Bardot said she had two dangerous abortions before giving birth to Nicholas, whom she described in her book as ‘the object of my misfortune’.

After her divorce from Jacques in 1962, Nicolas was unable to see his mother for decades because of her harsh words.

He was raised by his paternal grandparents; the actor later explained in an interview that he was unable to raise it because he needed ‘support’ and ‘roots’, adding that he was ‘uprooted, unstable, lost in that crazy world’.

She was also quoted as saying that she would rather give birth to a ‘little dog’ than her son.

Nicolas later filed a lawsuit against the actor for defamatory statements and non-payment of alimony.

Jaques Charrier wrote a book in 1997 claiming to have helped ‘rehabilitate’ Bardot’s image, saying: ‘In a way I am rehabilitating her. According to The Telegraph, the fact that her love for Nicolas is confirmed by the letters I have kept gives her much more credibility than the horrors she wrote.

In the last years of her life, Brigitte seemed to change her approach to the gap between herself and her only child.

In an interview with Var-Matin in 2018, Bardot claimed that her relationship with her son had improved, saying: ‘We talk regularly. He lives in Norway and visits me once a year in La Madrague, alone or in the company of his family, his wife and my grandchildren.’

She also expressed her love for Nicolas, saying: ‘I love him in a special way. And he loves me too. He looks a bit like me. Physically, he inherited a lot from his father.’

In an interview with Paris Match in 2024, he said that he had promised his son that he would never talk about him in an interview.

Brigitte Bardot, Jacques Charrier and their son Nicolas

Brigitte Bardot and her son Nicolas

Brigitte Bardot and her son Nicolas

Nicolas attends his mother’s funeral

Estranged from grandchildren Anna and Thea

The sisters grew up in Norway after Nicolas settled there with his wife, Norwegian model Anne-Line Bjerkan, whom he married in 1984.

Bardot was reportedly not invited to the wedding.

The family lived a largely private life, and Bardot met her grandchildren only once, when they were teenagers, at a family gathering hosted by her husband Bernard d’Ormale in 1992.

Bardot later admitted that she did not play an active role in her grandchildren’s lives.

‘I confess that I am not a good grandmother. My grandchildren live in Norway with their father. They don’t speak French and we don’t have the opportunity to see each other. “I always say what I think and I have never believed in blood relations,” he said, according to TF1.

He added that he didn’t ‘hold them in my arms’ or ‘see them grow.’

According to French media, in 2014, Bardot was informed that Anna had become a great-grandmother after she gave birth to a daughter.

Bardot’s manager reportedly said: ‘Recently Nicolas called his mother and told her she was a great-grandmother.’

He added that Bardot had not met the baby, but described the child as “so sweet, so beautiful” after seeing the photos.

But it looks like Bardot had the chance to meet her great-grandchildren at least once.

Speaking to Le Point last year, the late film star said: ‘Yes, I am the great-grandmother of three little Norwegian children who do not speak French and whom I rarely see.’

The youngest of the grandchildren, with a round face and blonde hair, she is compared to Brigitte.

Nicolas-Jacques Charrier’s wife Anne-Line Bjerkan (right) and Thea Charrier Bjerkan arrive to attend Brigitte Bardot’s funeral

Brigitte Bardot’s granddaughter Anna Charrier (left) arrives at Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church for Brigitte Bardot’s funeral

Bardot’s funeral took place at the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church, a simple ceremony that reflected her lifelong love of animals as well as her far-right political views.

Among the VIPs who came to the ceremony was French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

However, French President Emmanuel Macron did not attend the meeting after being rejected by Bardot’s family.

Bernard d’Ormale, who has been married to the movie star for more than 30 years, said in an interview with Le Parisiene that the government had rejected a proposal for a national memorial for his wife.

He said Bardot had no time for Macron’s administration and always stuck to her political principles.

It turned out that the movie star died of cancer, for which he had undergone many surgeries.

Bardot led a reclusive life in her final years, preferring to stay out of the spotlight at her secluded and very private estate in Saint Tropez.