France says farewell to film star Brigitte Bardot with funeral and public homage in Saint-Tropez

Well-wishers lined the streets of Brigitte Bardot's hometown of Saint-Tropez on Wednesday for the funeral of the French screen icon as her husband revealed she had died from cancer.

Her wicker coffin was welcomed on the steps of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption church by her long-estranged son at the start of a traditional Catholic funeral service in the morning.

The reclusive star of the 50s and 60s was buried at her family's Mediterranean seaside grave later in the day after she died aged 91 at her home on 28 December.

Hundreds of people watched proceedings on a giant screen erected on the yacht-filled port of Saint-Tropez which the star of 'And God created Woman' helped transform into a glitzy playground for the rich.

"What I remember most is what she did for animals. She had a real sensitivity, a small streak of racism too, but it wasn’t malicious, she wasn’t just that," Sandrine, a school assistant who had travelled several hours to Saint-Tropez, told the AFP news agency.

The 60-year-old from the Pyrenees mountains said she expected the public turn-out to be higher, suggesting it was because of criticism and media coverage of her political views and convictions for inciting racial hatred.

Bardot's best-known associations, from the heyday of France's New Wave film industry to animal rights campaigning and far-right politics, were all represented at the televised church service.

The son of fellow late French film star Jean-Paul Belmondo attended, as did far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, and a host of animal rights campaigners whose work Bardot helped publicise through her own foundation.

Guests filed past a photo of Bardot with one of her dogs, while a well-known image of her cuddling a baby seal was placed near the pulpit where elaborate flower wreaths were piled high.