“Nothing is impossible in the universe!” That was the phrase that, in the 1970s and 1980s, made Grichka and Igor Bogdanoff, the most famous and eccentric twins in France, famous as scientific popularizers. And those same words were the ones that opened, together with his photograph, the booklet that his relatives left on the pews of the Madeleine church, one of the symbols of Paris and the Gallic country, where the two 72-year-old brothers received a Massive funeral, almost state, on Monday, January 10.
The Bogdanoffs died just six days apart, both from COVID-19. On December 28, and after spending several days in a coma, Grichka died, while his brother Igor survived him until January 3, as reported first by his agent and later by the family lawyer. Then the French press explained that both had been admitted to the ICU of the Parisian hospital Georges-Pompidou on December 15 and, according The world, Neither of them had received the coronavirus vaccine, something that their lawyer did not want to confirm. Former Minister of Education and French philosophy professor Luc Ferry assured The Parisian that none of them were vaccinated and that, although in no case did they promote that the vaccine not be administered, “yes they were anti-vaccines with themselves.”
On Monday, the two brothers were dismissed in style and with all the honors at a grand funeral at the Madeleine church, in the heart of Paris – the same where Coco Chanel, Merlene Dietrich and Johnny Hallyday also received their last goodbye. and among hundreds of relatives, friends and admirers who stayed at the gates of the temple. Among those who came to say their last goodbye were Ferry himself, as well as the singer Francis Lalanne, the philosopher Raphaël Enthoven, the humorist Cyril Hanouna and the collector and writer Pierre-Jean Chalencon. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, sent a large bouquet of white roses.
The ceremony, lasting an hour and a half, was also attended by Igor’s second wife and mother of the two young children of the deceased, Amélie de Borbón y Parma, daughter of Miguel de Borbón-Parma and cousin of Felipe VI. The couple were married in October 2009 in a ceremony held at the magnificent Chateau de Chambord, with over 300 guests arriving in a helicopter piloted by Igor. They separated in 2016.
Igor had a total of six children. The eldest was Dimitri, born in 1976 from a relationship with the actress Geneviève Grad. In the summer of 1989 he married Countess Ludmilla d’Oultremont, and they had three children: Sasha Maria (who was born three months after the wedding and today is dedicated to music); Anna Claria, born in 1991 and who works in the world of cinema; and the now-also musician Wenceslas, who came to the world in 1994, just a few months before his parents divorced. The youngest, Constantin and Alexander, the fruit of their relationship with Amélie de Borbón y Parma, are barely 10 and seven years old. Grichka Bogdanoff had no known relationships or children.
“Igor and Grichka scanned the sky,” said the priest during the funeral, according to the French newspaper. Point. “Their science guided them towards the existence of God,” he said, while Bourbon and Parma, who also spoke a few words during the event, said: “You are no longer here, but you live forever in our hearts.”
The twins, descendants of the Austrian aristocracy, were doctors in Physics and Mathematics and were well-known scientific popularizers on French television, although they sowed controversy for their controversial way of addressing certain issues, not always accepted by the scientific community. In fact, they claimed that they had not undergone cosmetic surgery, but had undergone various experiments that gave them their characteristic appearance. Both will be buried on Wednesday already in an intimate ceremony that will take place in their hometown, Saint-Lary, in Gers, in south-western France, 700 kilometers from Paris.
elpais.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.