Brexit critic John le Carre became Irish citizen before death

Europhile urged resistance against UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

John le Carre shown on dark rainy street in Hamburg in 1964. Getty Images

John le Carre at home with his wife Alison and their three sons, Stephen, Simon and baby Timothy in 1964. Getty Images

John le Carre see in 1965. Getty Images

John Le Carre lighting his pipe in 1980. Getty Images

A window display promoting the upcoming serialisation of the John Le Carre spy novel 'The Looking Glass War' in the Daily Express newspaper at the Daily Express Building in Fleet Street, 1965. Getty Images

John le Carre shark fishing in 1974. Getty Images

A portrait of John le Carre in 1980. Getty Images

British writer John le Carre at home in Cornwall in February 1983. Getty Images

Gary Oldman and John Le Carre arriving for the UK Premiere of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy, in London in 2011. Getty Images

John Le Carre attends the 'The Night Manager' premiere during the Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin in 2016. Getty Images

Florence Pugh, Michael Shannon, Park Chan-wook, John le Carre and Alexander Skarsgard attend the World Premiere of "The Little Drummer Girl" at the 62nd BFI London Film Festival in 2018. Getty Images

British spy author John le Carre's Brexit animosity drove him to become an Irish citizen shortly before he died last year, his son revealed on Thursday.

"He was, by the time he died, an Irish citizen," Nick Cornwell told the BBC.

"One of the last photographs I have is of him sitting wrapped in an Irish flag, grinning his head off."

Mr Cornwell said his father visited his grandmother's native city of Cork in Ireland and experienced an "emotional shift".

EU member Ireland allows individuals with Irish parents or grandparents to claim citizenship, and there has been a boom in applications since Britain's 2016 referendum decision to split from the EU.

The former British intelligence officer, whose real name was David Cornwall, wrote 25 novels and one memoir, and sold 60 million books worldwide in a career spanning six decades.

His intricate espionage novels are celebrated for weaving morally shady worlds inhabited by compromised characters and corrupting institutions.

His writing chronicled post-empire Britain from the Cold War until the present day and did not shy from scathing criticism.

An avowed Europhile, he was an outspoken critic of Brexit and at the general election in 2019 said Britons should "join the resistance" against UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

"My England would be the one that recognises its place in the EU," he said in 2017.

"The jingoistic England that is trying to march us out of the EU – that is an England I don't want to know."