Admiral Philippe de Gaulle, the eldest son of General de Gaulle, died on the night of Tuesday March 12 to Wednesday March 13, at the age of 102 in Paris. The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, will pay a “national tribute next week at Les Invalides” to the admiral, government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot announced on Wednesday March 13.
The Head of State “began the Council of Ministers today with a strong word in memory of Admiral de Gaulle who passed away early this morning,” declared the minister, quoting the words of Mr. Macron: “A great resistance fighter, a companion of the Liberation, committed from the first hours of the Liberation.”
“Philippe de Gaulle had anticipated his father’s call to join the resistance. Sailor, admiral, senator, he never missed the meeting of courage and honor. A century of French bravery. To his family, the condolences of the nation,” the president had previously greeted on X.
Many tributes paid to the admiral on Wednesday also salute a life marked by “courage” and “commitment”. “Let us salute the memory of a wonderful father and a great Frenchman, whose sense of duty was matched only by his elegance and modesty. Vision, honor and simplicity, that is ultimately Gaullism,” wrote Pierre de Gaulle, the admiral’s son, about X.
Born on December 28, 1921 in Paris, Philippe de Gaulle, a former student of the Naval Academy, was a “Free Frenchman from 1940”, the year of his engagement in the Free French Naval Forces, it is recalled in numerous testimonies on the social networks. “France at heart to the end: from 1940 in our armies within the Free French Naval Forces, an exemplary military career, then as senator of Paris”, reacted the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, on X .
“Dazzled Son.”
The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, for his part, praises “the commitment of a lifetime to the service of France”: “The armies bow before the disappearance of Admiral Philippe de Gaulle. From the ardor of the fighter for Free France to the finesse of the general officer, his journey will continue to guide generations under arms.”
Philippe de Gaulle also devoted himself to preserving the memory of his father, making himself “throughout his life and his public commitments the faithful guardian of the moral heritage of the most illustrious of French people and the ardent defender of a certain idea of ??France”, according to the formula of the president of the Hauts-de-France region, Xavier Bertrand.
“He had inherited his courage, his taste for military and political affairs, and his passion for France,” also notes the Elysée in a press release, which salutes “the figure of a resistance fighter who blocked the oppression, of a fighter who knew how to take up arms to make peace and freedom triumph, of an officer and an elected official devoted to the good of France, of a witness and a transmitter of history. .
Philippe de Gaulle thus published several works on the general, including De Gaulle, my father, a publishing success which shone the spotlight on this discreet man. For the “dazzled son”, as he said, it was a question of humanizing his illustrious progenitor, icon during his lifetime, leader of Free France and former President of the Republic, who died in 1970.
At the same time, this man who had managed to make a name for himself was also an art enthusiast who created frescoes and paintings for the national navy, devoted himself to sculpture and illustration, notably through numerous posters. advertising. “His life was marked by the strength of commitment, in the service of France. But Philippe de Gaulle was also a lover of the arts and artists, in particular painters and painting, which was one of his passions,” recalled the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, on X.
