France is bidding farewell to its biggest rock star, honouring Johnny Hallyday with a funeral procession down the Champs-Elysees, a presidential speech and a parade of motorcyclists.
Few figures in French history have earned such an elaborate send-off, which will take place under intense security.
It was ordered by President Emmanuel Macron, a Hallyday fan himself.
Flowers outside Johnny Hallyday’s house in Marnes-la-Coquette. (Christophe Ena/AP)
Hallyday’s death on Wednesday at the age of 74, after fighting lung cancer, unleashed emotion across the country, where the man sometimes dubbed the French Elvis had been a favourite for more than half a century.
Paris police expect hundreds of thousands of fans as the procession moves from his home in a Paris suburb to Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe monument and down the Champs-Elysees.
Mr Macron is expected to speak at the funeral ceremony at Madeleine Church.
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