Silvio Berlusconi – a life in pictures

Silvio Berlusconi attends the 'Porta a Porta' TV Show on February 14, 2018 in Rome, Italy. Photograph: Elisabetta A Villa/Getty Images

1960s: a young Silvio Berlusconi singing on a cruise ship Photograph: Olycom SPA/Rex Features

1986: Berlusconi the media tycoon poses in front of an array of televisions Photograph: Vittoriano Rastelli/CORBIS

1989: Berlusconi celebrates with his AC Milan team after beating Steaua Bucharest in the European Cup final Photograph: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images

1991: Berlusconi, media and real estate billionaire, reviews the script for a video being filmed in his home for a Christmas holiday message to his employees Photograph: George Steinmetz/Corbis

April 2001: security protects Berlusconi, then Italian opposition leader, as he greets fans on his arrival for a political rally in Turin Photograph: Massimo Pinca/Associated Press

August 2004: the then British prime minister, Tony Blair, and his wife, Cherie, with Berlusconi in Porto Cervo, Sardinia. The Blairs are guests of Berlusconi at his villa Photograph: Davide Caglio/EPA

November 2006: Berlusconi is supported at the podium by his personal doctor Umberto Scapagnini (left) as he slumps during an emotional speech to political supporters in Montecatini Terme. After 40 minutes of railing against the government of the then prime minister, Romano Prodi, Berlusconi suddenly started speaking slowly, looked weak and told the crowd: “Emotion is getting the better of me. I …” Photograph: Fabrizio Giovannozzi/AP

May 2007: Berlusconi lifts the trophy after AC Milan defeats Liverpool in the Champions League final in Athens Photograph: Ullstein Bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images

2008: Berlusconi feigns illness after tasting mozzarella after a dioxin-contamination scare during his campaign to regain office Photograph: Plinio Lepri/AP

2008: Berlusconi shakes hands with the then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during their meeting in Benghazi. Italy and Libya signed an accord under which Italy would pay billions of dollars in compensation and investments for colonial misdeeds during its decades-long rule of the north African country. In a goodwill gesture, Italy returned an ancient statue of Venus taken to Rome during colonial rule Photograph: REUTERS

April 2008: the prime minister elect mimes shooting a machine gun at a journalist during a press conference with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin Photograph: Mario Laporta/AFP/Getty Images

May 2008: Berlusconi speaks to the equal opportunities minister Mara Carfagna, a former topless model and showgirl, after a parliamentary no-confidence vote. Berlusconi said about Carfagna: “If I was not already married I would have married her immediately.” The comment caused Berlusconi’s then wife, Veronica Lario, to demand an apology through a national newspaper Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

October 2008: Berlusconi with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and German chancellor, Angela Merkel, during a news conference after a summit at the Élysée palace to discuss the international financial crisis Photograph: Philippe Wojazer/REUTERS

July 2009:
US President Barack Obama and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi look over the damage caused by the April earthquake in the historical centre of L’Aquila, Italy Photograph: Valerio Simeone/REX/Shutterstock

March 2009: Berlusconi delivers a speech in Rome to mark the founding of a new centre-right party called Popolo della Liberta (People of Freedom), uniting Berlusconi’s Forza Italia with the National Alliance party Photograph: Pier Paolo Cito/AP

April 2009: Berlusconi poses with Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev at the G20 summit in London Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

May 2009: Berlusconi appears on the TV show Porta a Porta. Berlusconi said during the show that the suggestion by his then wife and the Italian media that he had had a relationship with an 18-year-old girl was a lie Photograph: Claudio Peri/CLAUDIO PERI /epa/Corbis

April 2009: 18-year-old Noemi Letizia poses with a portrait of Silvio Berlusconi in her home in Naples, Italy. Berlusconi’s friendship with the 18-year-old prompted his wife to ask for a divorce and sparked an outcry from the opposition Photograph: Franco Castano/AP

August 2009: the Italian escort Patrizia D’Addario, who wrote a book called Gradisca, Presidente (Enjoy, Prime Minister), was at the heart of a sex scandal involving Berlusconi after claiming she spent a night at his Rome residence Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

December 2009: Berlusconi is injured after an attacker hurled a statuette at him at the end of a rally in Milan Photograph: Livio Anticoli/AP

2010: the nightclub dancer Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby Rubacuore. Berlusconi was accused of paying to have sex with the then 17-year-old Photograph: REUTERS

December 2010: Berlusconi attends a session at the senate in Rome. His slim victory in a close parliamentary confidence vote led to riots in Rome Photograph: Tony Gentile/REUTERS

2010: demonstrators clash with police in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo after Berlusconi won back-to-back votes of confidence in the Italian parliament Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP

January 2011: Nicole Minetti reads a newspaper during a meeting at the Lombardy regional headquarters in Milan. Minetti, formerly Berlusconi’s dental hygienist, is alleged to have recruited young women to attend parties at the prime minister’s residence. Minetti denies the claims Photograph: Alessandro Garofalo/REUTERS

January 2011: Nadia Macri is escorted as she arrives at the offices of the judicial police for a hearing in the “Rubygate” scandal. Macri claimed she had had sex with, and received money from, Berlusconi Photograph: Giuseppe Aresu/AFP/Getty Images

February 2011: demonstrators gather at Rome’s Piazza del Popolo in a rally called ‘If not now, when?’ organised by Italian women outraged at ‘degrading’ media coverage of the sex scandals surrounding Berlusconi Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images

October 2010: Berlusconi leaves a eurozone leaders’ summit in Brussels after reaching an agreement on a comprehensive package of measures to tackle the sovereign debt crisis Photograph: François Lenoir/Reuters

November 2011: Berlusconi leaves Palazzo Grazzioli, his personal residence, to formally submit his resignation to Italy’s president Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

March 2013: Berlusconi after meeting the Italian president Giorgio Napolitano at the Quirinale Palace in Rome. Berlusconi made his political comeback in a chaotic 2013 general election which led to his centre-right Freedom People (PdL) party becoming partners in a coalition government Photograph: Giorgio Cosulich/Getty Images

May 2014:

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (R) arrives at the Catholic hospice “Sacra Famiglia” (Holy Family Institute foundation) in Cesano Boscone to begin community service for tax fraud. The billionaire tycoon, who was convicted last year and has been expelled from parliament, has been ordered to work once a week for up to a year as a volunteer in a hospice for Alzheimer’s patients just outside Milan Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images

July 2019:

Former Italian PM and leader of the right-wing party Forza Italia Silvio Berlusconi (L) greets a MEP as he arrives for the inaugural European Parliament session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. Photograph: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images

July 2019:

Italian MEP Silvio Berlusconi attends a voting session to elect the new president of the European Parliament during the first plenary session of the newly elected European Assembly in Strasbourg, eastern France Photograph: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images

July 2019:

Newly elected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is congratulated by Italian Member of the European Parliament Silvio Berlusconi (L) after a vote on her election at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France on July 16, 2019 Photograph: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images

September 2020:

Berlusconi addresses the media, as he leaves the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan after he tested positive for coronavirus and was hospitalised Photograph: Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images

October 2021:

Leader of Lega party Matteo Salvini, Fratelli d’Italia party leader Giorgia Meloni and Forza Italia party leader Silvio Berlusconi at the end of their meeting in Rome Photograph: Claudio Peri/ANSA/AFP/Getty Images

October 2022:

Forza Italia’s president Silvio Berlusconi takes his seat in the Italian Senate on the opening session of the new parliament Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP

February 2023:

Silvio Berlusconi, Leader of Forza Italia party, casts his vote during the Lombardy regional elections in Milan Photograph: Piero Cruciatti/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images