Death of Jean-Marie Le Pen: the year when Humbert Lambert made the co-founder of the FN a rich man

Since the early 1960s, supporters of the French far right have been driven by a desire for revenge. For them, France should never have “let go” of Algeria and General de Gaulle is a felon. Humbert Lambert, son of Léon Lambert, nicknamed the “king of cement” thanks to the success of his factories in Cormeilles-en-Parisis (Val-d’Oise), is part of the revenge camp.

An essayist, he published several texts in far-right magazines before meeting Jean-Marie Le Pen and joining the new National Front in 1973. “In a hagiography dedicated to him by Roger Mauge, Jean-Marie Le Pen says of him that “he’s a very nice guy who offered to write a few articles for the National”the official party magazine. He signed his articles under his mother’s maiden name, Saint-Julien”tells Challenges Valérie Igounet, historian specializing in the far right.

Very quickly, the thirty-year-old Lambert became a member of the central committee and then national advisor to the party on military issues. He is increasingly close to Jean-Marie Le Pen and his wife, Pierrette. In the biography by Roger Mauge, a scene is recounted which has never been denied by the former MEP: “It was at the restaurant during the year 73, Hubert Lambert allegedly gave Jean-Marie Le Pen 320,000 francs in cash in a suitcase, relates Valérie Igounet. A suitcase that he would have liked to recover because it could be used again. » After this lunch, the two men became friends and it is even said that the heir to the “king of cement” pushed the former French soldier to run in the legislative elections of March 1973.

Three years later, the millionaire died at the age of 42 from cirrhosis at his home, located at 8 Parc de Montretout, at the end of September. As a last wish, he made the co-founder of the flame party the sole heir to his fortune. We are then talking about a colossal heritage since it involves not only the Saint-Cloud manor, another country property of his mother who died a month earlier, but also financial assets and the sum of 30 million francs, i.e. 4.5 million euros.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, son of a Breton fisherman who died during the Second World War and became a ward of the Nation, changes dimension: he becomes a rich man. In the first volume of his memoirs published in 2018, the person concerned does not dwell on this episode, although it is central to his public and personal life. The politician soberly mentions that “the Lambert legacy had to modify [s] a situation ». And for good reason, the conditions for obtaining this inheritance are mysterious to say the least.

AFP / PHILIPPE BOUCHON

During the last years of his life, Hubert Lambert was a sick man with very fragile mental health. His practice was to distribute wills to his relatives. Thus, at least four documents were signed by him. His cousin, Philippe Lambert, who also lives on part of the Montretout estate, claims to have a will dated March 11, 1973, three years before the millionaire’s death. For his part, Jean-Marie Le Pen has in his pocket an official document dated January 21, 1976. The first then decides to summon the second for summary proceedings for seizure of inheritance.

Philippe is the last member of the Lambert family to be able to inherit, since Hubert’s parents died and he had no children. To contest the validity of the inheritance, he relies on article 901 of the Civil Code which states that the author of a will must be “sane” for the document to be valid. Several elements against the politician are brought to the file, in particular an expertise from Denise de Castilla.

The latter, a psychologist and graphologist at the Paris Court of Appeal, was consulted privately and thus provides her analyses: “The will reveals a being in the grip of a nervous breakdown and who has lost his autonomy of control. Graphometry demonstrated that the pathological threshold was reached and that the capacity to resist external influence was practically abolished. Consequently, it is reasonable to doubt that the subject wrote this last document in full independence of mind, and in full possession of his intellectual means. » Ultimately the expertise will never be presented before a judge because the summary hearing will never take place.

A few weeks after the death of Hubert Lambert, the Le Pens were victims of a serious attack at their home. The apartment of the building located in the 15th^e district of Paris in the Villa Poirier is blown up by several kilos of dynamite in the early morning. The desire to kill is beyond doubt. Miraculously, no serious injuries were reported.

The police investigation yields nothing but in the book by journalist Laszlo Liszkai, Marine Le Pen, a new National Front? published in 2010, a thesis was created. It is said that two private detectives hired by Philippe Lambert are behind this attack which will leave Jean-Marie Le Pen’s youngest daughter, eight years old at the time, traumatized.

“It took that night of horror for me to realize that my father “played politics” »she writes in her biography Against the wavesin 2006. Three weeks later, they moved to Montretout, a 430 m mansion² on three levels and a park of more than four hectares, last home of Hubert Lambert.

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It was in 1977 that Philippe Lambert and Jean-Marie Le Pen reached an amicable agreement and put an end to a probable legal war lasting several years. The outlines of this agreement are not made public. From now on, the president of the National Front has free rein to pursue politics as he sees fit.

“Without Lambert, no FN. Without Le Pen, no Lambert”this is how Lorrain de Saint Affrique summarizes the relationship around the legacy of Hubert Lambert in an interview with historian Valérie Igounet. Was the money inherited by Jean-Marie Le Pen intended for the president of the National Front or for Hubert Lambert’s friend? The answer was clear for the activists of the far-right party who were having difficulty paying the bills of the FN, still very new to the political landscape.

“When the activists heard the news, they thought that this money would replenish the coffers of the party which was in very bad shape, agrees Valérie Igounet. At the time, we lit up with candles at the party headquarters… This immense fortune did not really benefit the FN whereas a drop of water from the inheritance would have put it back on track. »

An opinion which is not entirely shared by Wallerand de Saint-Just, former treasurer of the party from 2009 to 2021. “All I always knew was that Jean-Marie Le Pen put a lot of his personal money into running the party, he explains to Challenges. I absolutely do not have the accounting of those times but I know that in those years, we did what we wanted because there was no monitoring of the accounting. »

In a report broadcast in 1976 on the Lambert legacy, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who made Montretout the HQ of the FN, maintained the vagueness. “I have devoted my life to politics and therefore the means which are at my disposal are also at the disposal of my ideas. »

“Jean-Marie Le Pen says that this money notably made it possible to finance the 1981 presidential campaign which did not produce results, explains Valérie Igouet. This financial ease allows him to give crazy parties with hundreds of guests and to highlight his wealth. Former FN members from the 1980s say he abandoned his party. His desire to live may have superseded that of the party. » For her, if he had made a substantial donation to his lifelong party, he would have made it known.

Over the years, the Montretout manor has been the scene of numerous election evenings for the FN and then the RN. Well after his ouster from his long-time party, Jean-Marie Le Pen still received relatives and journalists while waiting for 8 p.m., as during the last presidential election, for example. More recently, investigations into The World or Liberation reported that the sumptuous residence had been used by the far-right identity collective Némesis as a rallying place or party.

In a party brochure written by Jean-Marie Le Pen in 1978, he wrote this sentence which crystallizes his taste for formulas with multiple readings. “It is better to inherit good chromosomes that lead to wealth, rather than weak chromosomes that cause you to lose the wealth you have inherited. » It now remains to be seen who will inherit his money.