We thought we knew everything about him, we were wrong all the way. History secrets and its issue of Monday June 15 unveil new mysteries about the complex personality of Charles de Gaulle. All the facets of the great French leader are explored and told by Stéphane Bern, from his love for France to his mastery of communication tools, including his devotion to his family. From her marriage to Yvonne Vendroux (April 7, 1921), in fact came from three children: Philippe, Elisabeth and Anne, born respectively in 1921, 1924 and 1928.
The first, a recognized naval officer, was recently honored by the National Assembly. Modest man, now 98 years old, he had participated in the liberation of the Palais Bourbon in August 1944. There followed a beautiful and long career in the navy (42 years) then a political parenthesis as a senator ( 1986-2004) before spending happy days around history books, walking and television, as he confided in an interview for Paris-Match in 2019. During this interview, this fan of great sporting events had poured out on the fate of the youngest of the brothers, Anne, carrier of a trisomy 21.
Anne, the General's darling daughter
This child united the De Gaulle couple because, together, they tried to awaken it, to make it progress by adapting to its rhythm, until his death on February 6, 1948 at the age of 20 years. They even installed a nursing home for disabled young girls on a property in the Yvelines, called the Anne De Gaulle foundation, and chaired by their first daughter, Elisabeth. The latter had married on January 3, 1946 Alain de Boissieu, whom she had met in London where this young officer had gone in 1942 after a spectacular escape. She joined her father and her youngest child in the Colombey-les-Deux-Églises cemetery, where she was buried in April 2013.
Read also : When Emmanuel Macron imitates Charles de Gaulle, "for fun"