en depit de lui-meme versus malgre lui

Question

When do you use     en dépit de lui-même and when do you use    malgre lui

Maarten Kamp · Accepted Answer

F.M. 
I assume you are asking about the use of ‘ malgré ‘ and ‘ en dépit de ‘ in general? The use of ‘lui’ or ‘ lui- même ‘ in your example is dependent on whether the preposition or the prepositional phrase is used.
‘ Malgré ‘ and ‘ en dépit de ‘ have the same difference in meaning as ‘ despite ‘ and ‘ in spite of ‘ in English - that is, there is no effective difference in meaning. Except for limited fixed expressions, they are interchangeable. Any suggested difference is a minor nuance at most.
 ‘ Malgré ‘ is used more in everyday speech. ‘ En dépit de ‘ may be considered a bit more ‘ soutenu ‘, used in formal writing etc,