Roman de Kermadec, the son of Kate Barry, remained in the shadow of the Birkin clan

He is the clan’s first grandchild. Monday, July 24, during Jane Birkin’s funeral, Roman de Kermadec stood alongside Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou Doillon and some of their children to welcome the artist’s coffin to the forecourt of the Saint Roch church. A rare image, the son of Kate Barry usually standing away from the lenses.

Jane Birkin’s eldest daughter was only 20 when she gave birth to her in March 1987. The same age as the English actress and musician was when Kate was born. This grandson, the first, is a great joy for Birkin, who becomes a grandmother at barely 40 years old. She and him will become very close.

Kate Barry is the only child of Jane Birkin and the American-British musician John Barry, known for having composed soundtracks for films that have become cult, such as those of James Bond, Out of Africa or Dances with Wolves. Birkin married Barry in 1965. She was 17 and he was 32. This short-lived union gave birth to Kate in 1967, less than a year before their separation. Jane then chooses to live in France and meets Serge Gainsbourg, who will raise the child as his daughter until she is 13 years old. Before the legendary couple separated in 1980.

Read alsoJane Birkin, her daughter Kate Barry and the drama of her life

In video, Jane Birkin, icon of the 1970s, died at 76

Kate will suffer in adolescence from various addictions, alcohol, medication and drugs, as told in 1996 the magazine the express . But she will know how to have the strength to preserve her unborn child, by becoming abstinent during her pregnancy, as noted later Paris Match . Roman is so named in homage to the filmmaker Polanski. He will know little about his father, Pascal de Kermadec, also addicted to drugs, who dies when the child is only four years old. If Kate does not collapse immediately, this fragile and sensitive woman will end up plunging back into her addictions, before taking herself in hand, and going to rehab in England. She then entrusts her son to Jane, delighted to pamper again.

Kate is a fighter. Roman’s mother rebuilds herself in the shadow of the spotlight. She, who is undoubtedly the most discreet of Jane Birkin’s daughters, prefers to be behind the lenses. She asserts herself as a talented photographer and portraitist at the age of 28, exhibits in Japan or Italy, collaborates with the most prestigious publications. And also signs photos for album covers by Lara Fabian, Raphaël or Carla Bruni. She photographs to hide herself better: a model for Roman, who will also remain in the shadow of the women in his family, without ever revealing himself publicly, or so rarely.

When his mother died in December 2013, from a fall from the fourth floor of his Parisian apartment, the young man became an orphan at the age of 26. Remaining close to his grandmother and his two aunts, Charlotte and Lou, he is all the more discreet, publishes no statement or public tribute to his deceased mother. Only an Instagram account will shed some clues about the life he leads over the years. We can see him chaining filming, placed behind a camera.

On video, Jane by Charlottethe teaser

So his grandmother Jane speaks for him. That same year, she decided to sell her Parisian house and wanted to get closer geographically to her grandson: “It’s sinister, this big house, now that my grandchildren are grown up or far away. By selling it, I will be able to take an 85 m² for my dog ​​Dolly and me, and an apartment for the son of my daughter Kate”, she confides to the Parisian (Weekend) . Three years later she once again gave herself up to a few modest confidences: “[La mort de Kate] turned my life upside down, that of his sisters and his son too”, she reveals this time to the magazine Gala . That’s it.

The years pass, today it is “Mamie”, as he calls her on Instagram, who disappears. This is where he pays homage to it this time, in one image. We can see the two women in his life, his mother and his grandmother, embracing: “Grandma, you joined Mum…. Love You,” he commented. Without revealing more.