Just wondering if there’s been anything happening elsewhere…
Ashamedly I had forgotten the date especially as I have only just finished a fascinating book entitled ‘Paris After the Liberation’, in which de Gaulle’s speech from London was covered in detail.
Years ago I was in Brantome en Perigord wandering around and paused at the Hotel de Ville. A plaque on the wall covered the speech in its entirety and it really moved me reading it.
Some years later I was nearby again but couldn’t find it. Had it been moved, or removed, I have no idea.
Sadly, only last year I lunched with French friends from the north in the Dobermann Association and for some reason we got onto politics. I don’t know why because I quite like him, but they were not at all supporters of Macron and I asked who was the last one they approved of. De Gaulle, they both said in union. What a shame that we were sitting only 100 metres from where I saw that plaque but I wasn’t sure that a short detour to find it still missing was a good idea.
1 Like
Got it marked now @Stella, but I haven’t heard if there is any tribute, I’ll ask my friend the new Maire who lives just across the road, or read the notice board at the bottom of the hill. 
1 Like
This thread is from last year and I’ve no idea what is planned for 2026
but, funnily enough, I found myself discussing le General de Gaulle only the other day.
Saturday night at our Salle des Fetes, enjoying a village meal/get together.
Chatting with a lovely chap ( ancien combattant). He was talking about French/English activities - eg working together re le Tunnel which joined the two countries.
“Just goes to show that UK and France can rise above their petty differences/squabbles. True friendship is when someone can drive you mad, but you still remain friends”
Was more or less what he said..
De Gaulle, WW2 et al… he rambled on and I chimed in gently from time to time with tales my father told me about DG’s time in London.
Then he went on to say how it moved him to tears to see Brits at the various French commemorations.
Another sign of true friendship, he said, that we share one another’s pain/sorrow.
Made me feel so glad that OH and I do try and make the effort… phew.
Very true, but sadly in absence in this commune, just me. The late lamented Pierre who was the head of the Ancien Combattantes always used to introduce me to newcomers as ‘notre ami fidele’ , not quite to tears but it was nice to hear.
1 Like
A fascinating character for sure - his somewhat prickly attitude and insistence on “l’honneur de la France” used to drive Churchill and other Brits mad during the war - but they knew that he was the only Frenchman untainted by Vichy who could reunite France (although he didn’t quite manage to do that in the event). The Americans hated him and were suspicious of his political ambitions and backed General Henri Giraud instead!
As an aside, during Covid I photographed a wedding at the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly, in the Marie Antoinette Room where de Gaulle and Churchill used to meet:
Not suggesting for one moment that it was a shotgun wedding, but all the masked Mafiosi in evidence must have been a bit uncomfortable.
1 Like
The masks came off pretty swiftly after the ceremony when it was time to drink champagne and kiss people. 
Not much Covid compliance that day!
My Dad never used the word “prickly”. He had nothing but praise for him. However, my Dad was half-French and their meetings were only ever informal along with other French.
Thus I suspect he saw a very different side of the great man, to the one presented to Churchill et al.
Yes I’m sure he did!
1 Like