'JE T'AIME' SINGER AND STYLE ICON JANE BIRKIN HONOURED IN THE COUNTRY THAT EMBRACED HER AS ITS OWN

'It was incredible meeting someone who found me beautiful and decidedly erotic. Serge reconciled me with myself'

- ROSALIND POWELL

1946-2023

Born into a quintessentially English family but adopted by France, actress and singer Jane Birkin - once so famous she had a handbag named after her - has died at her home in Paris at the age of 76.

French President Emmanuel Macron was one of the first to pay tribute to the star, describing her as a "French icon" who "embodied freedom and sang the most beautiful words in our language". He added: "A complete artist, her voice was as gentle as her commitments were ardent. She bequeaths us a legacy of songs and images that will never leave us."

Jane shot to fame in 1969 with the risqué hit single Je t'aime... moi non plus, recorded with her then-partner, singer-songwriter and director Serge Gainsbourg.

She was still performing well into her 70s, but was forced to postpone concerts in Paris last year and earlier this year due to a shoulder injury and ill health. She also suffered a mild stroke in September 2021, and had been diagnosed with leukaemia in 2002. Even then, she led her life with, she said, "an absolutely unfounded optimism".