London (AFP)

The master of the British spy novel, John Le Carré, fiercely opposed to Brexit, had taken Irish nationality shortly before his death in December, said one of his sons.

Nick Cornwell reveals this information on a radio show scheduled to air Saturday on the BBC, produced by a friend of the writer, Philippe Sands.

"By the time of his death he had become an Irish citizen," said Nick, quoted in an article published Thursday by Mr Sands in The Times ahead of the broadcast.

He adds that "one of the last photos" he has of his father shows him "sitting, wrapped in an Irish flag, smiling".

Realizing that he had Irish origins, John Le Carré traveled to the South of Ireland: "He went to Cork, where his grandmother was from, and was greeted by the archivist of the town in a very small place. She said to him: + Welcome home, + "said the writer's son.

Brexit has caused an influx of applications for Irish nationality from Britons with origins in that country, to maintain freedom of movement in the European Union.

John Le Carré died in December of pneumonia at the age of 89.

Le Carré, whose real name is David Cornwell, has written twenty-five novels and one volume of memoirs, "The Pigeon Tunnel" (2016).

He has sold over sixty million books worldwide.

He was inspired by his career as a secret agent, ruined by British double agent Kim Philby who revealed his cover and that of many of his compatriots in the KGB, pushing him to resign from MI6.

In his latest novel, published in October 2019, this Europhile painted an uncompromising portrait of Prime Minister Boris Johnson portrayed as an "ignorant pig" and described Brexit as "madness".

Entitled "Agent Running in the Field", the novel is set in 2018 and tells the story of Nat, a 47-year-old agent of MI5, the British intelligence service, in the grip of doubts about the future of his country and who reveals to his daughter her career choices.

Describing a Britain in "free fall", Nat takes stock of the reasons which lead him to doubt the absence of democratic power in his country.

In his article, Philippe Sands also underlines John Le Carré's love for Germany and the German language he spoke fluently.

© 2021 AFP