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Alain Delon: how family feud brought Shakespearean tragedy to final years

Tensions between his children had erupted behind the gates of the French actor’s home in the village of Douchy

It was also here that in his decline Delon was to witness sibling tensions erupt at the beginning of this year when, severely diminished by a stroke in 2019 and a slow-developing lymphoma diagnosed in 2022, he was at the centre of a flurry of bitter accusations, squabbles involving secret recordings and threats of legal action. Photograph: Guillaume Souvant/AFP/Getty ImagesBefore Delon’s death, the family confirmed that in line with French law – under which a parent cannot disinherit their children, however estranged or conflicted the relationship – his estate, which wildly varying estimates put at between €50m and €300m (£58m and £352m), would be divided into quarters with a required 25% going to each child. Outside La Brûlerie on Sunday, once the site of a holiday camp for railway workers’ children and surrounded by woodland, villagers were remembering the man not his money as gendarmes kept journalists and television crews at a respectful distance, allowing only mourners through to lay flowers.

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