Yvonne de Gaulle


Yvonne de Gaulle was the wife of Charles de Gaulle. The couple had three children: Philippe, Élisabeth, and Anne, who was born with Down syndrome. Yvonne de Gaulle set up a charity, La fondation Anne-de-Gaulle, to help children with disabilities.
Yvonne and Charles were married on 6 April 1921. She is known for the quote, "The presidency is temporary—but the family is permanent." She and her husband narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on 22 August 1962, when their Citroën DS was targeted by machine gun fire arranged by Jean Bastien-Thiry at the Petit-Clamart.
Like her husband, Yvonne de Gaulle was a conservative Catholic, and campaigned against prostitution, the sale of pornography in newsstands, and the televised display of nudity and sex, for which she earned the nickname Tante Yvonne. Later, she unsuccessfully tried to persuade de Gaulle to outlaw miniskirts in France.
Yvonne was reputed to be very discreet; as such, despite numerous appearances, she never gave any radio or televised interviews, and the broader public never learned the sound of her voice.

Biography

Origins

Yvonne Vendroux came from an industrial family in Calais. The family name actually originated from The Netherlands, changed from the Dutch "Van Droeg" when the family emigrated during the era of William of Orange. William had decided to flood the fields during the 17th century to push back against the advance of troops from King Louis XIV. Yvonne's ancestor then married a Calasienne during the French Revolution.
Her father, Jacques, was the president of the Council of Administration of Biscuitry, while her mother, Marguerite, came from a family in Ardennes, and became the sixth woman in France to obtain a driver's license. She was the granddaughter of Alfred Corneau, industriel de Charleville-Mézières. Les Vendroux passaient leurs étés dans le château ardennais de l’abbaye Notre-Dame de Sept-Fontaines.
Her eldest brother, Jacques Vendroux, became deputy and mayor of Calais. Her younger brother, Jean married Madeleine Schallier, fathered seven children, and died in an auto accident in 1956.
Her sister Suzanne Vendroux married Jean Rerolle. on March 5th, 1934 in Fagnon. They had two children, Jacques-Henri and Marguerite-Marie.

Education

Yvonne's parents provided her with a strict education in keeping with their elevated social status and the nature of the era.
She learned to read at home and studied with the Dominican Order of Asnières-sur-Seine to become proficient in needlework. Children were encouraged to use the vousvoyer with their elders, and during World War I, went with their governesses to Canterbury, England, not returning to their parents in France until the end of the year. They were letter settled in Wissant, a seaside community in Calais along the English Channel.

Marriage to Charles de Gaulle

Yvonne met Charles de Gaulle in 1920, then a military captain returning from a mission in Poland. It was secretly arranged by the Vendroux family.
Their first date was to the Grand Palais during the fall exhibition to see the painting The Woman in Blue by Kees van Dongen. At a tea shortly after, Charles spilled his cup on young Yvonne's dress. Nonplussed, she laughed, and they continued courting.
Charles invited Yvonne to a Saint-Cyr military ball at the Hotel des Réservoirs, in Versailles, in support of the institution where he had studied from 1912-1918. Two days later, Yvonne declared to her parents, "It will be him, or no one."
They were engaged on November 11, before the end of Captain de Gaulle's leave, and married on April 7, 1921, in the Notre-Dame de Calais church. De Gaulle played on Yvonne's family business when he expressed his joy on the occasion, writing to a friend, "I am marrying the biscuits of Vendroux."
They honeymooned in Northern Italy, and went on to have three children, a boy and two girls:
In 1934, the family maintained the "Brasserie," property and renamed it "la Boisserie," at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises.
A passionate horticulturist, Yvonne de Gaulle treated the garden as her domain.
The high-walled surroundings were initially intended to protect their daughter Anne, with Down Syndrome, from the indiscretion of the public. When Anne passed in 1948 the family founded The Anne de-Gaulle Foundation in her memory at the château de Vert-Cœur, at Milon-la-Chapelle, directed by Georges Pompidou. Pompidou would subsequently become a close friend to the General.
During World War II, Philippe joined the Free French Naval Forces, while Yvonne de Gaulle and her husband went to London. General de Gaulle had initially advised her to go south with the children. She managed to make it to London by way of a Dutch ferry to Brest, then Falmouth. It was the last ship leaving the port.
There they made the acquaintance of Sir Winston Churchill, who provided updates of their daily life until they were able to return home.

Spouse of the President

Yvonne de Gaulle became the unofficial First Lady of France on December 21st, 1958 when then-General de Gaulle was elected President of the French Republic. The couple took a Citroën to the President's residence, Elysée Palace. Her couturier was Jacques Heim. She was tenacious, conservative, but could also be warm.
During her husband's tenure as president from 1959 to 1969, Yvonne de Gaulle led a sterile and measured life. On a typical day, she would enjoy three meals with her husband, reading Le Figaro at breakfast, evening television sessions, and Sunday masses at the palace chapel. She epitomized tradition, moral values, and a deep sense of duty. Her Catholic faith influenced the conservative view of her husband on moral matters; after her arrival at the palace, one of the first things she asked was for a pietà to be supplied to the Musée du Louvre. Later, when husband, invited actress Brigitte Bardot to their residence, she threatened to refuse her on the grounds that she had been divorced. She went on to intervene against the authorization of birth control pills.
The couple welcomed Dwight Eisenhower and the Kennedys during their tenure. In 1961, when the American presidential couple John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy was invited by General de Gaulle, she took the initiative to forge links with the American first lady by taking her to visit the childcare school located on Boulevard Brune in the 14th arrondissement. After the Assassination of John F. Kennedy two years later, Madame de Gaulle invited her to rest and avoid media scrutiny in Paris.
But soon the French family would have their own brush with uncertainty: on August 22nd, 1962, the de Gaulles were the target an assassination attempt in Clamart, organized by the French Air Force Lieutenant-Colonel, Jean Bastien-Thiry. As de Gaulle's black Citroën DS 19 sped through Petit-Clamart it was met by a barrage of submachine-gun fire. De Gaulle and his entourage, which included his wife, survived the attempt without any casualties or serious injuries while the attempt's perpetrators were subsequently all arrested and put on trial. Bastien-Thiry was convicted of leading the attempt in February 1963 at Fort d'Ivry, becoming the last person to be executed by firing squad in France.
De Gaulle managed to laugh off the incident without disrespecting police. He was deeply impressed with his wife's stoicism, however, reportedly saying, "You are brave, Yvonne."
During the events of May_68, Yvonne accompanied her husband during his displacement to Baden-Baden. She opposed the "Communist" uprising and protests.

Retirement and Death

Upon Charles' resignation from the presidency in 1969, Yvonne accompanied him on a retirement trip to Ireland, famous for the photos of the couple and the aide-de-camp, General François Flohic, taken on the beach.
Madame de Gaulle was widowed in 1970 and entering the retirement home of the sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Paris in 1978. She died at the Paris military hospital Val-de-Grâce hospital in Paris at the age of 79 the following year, on November 8th, 1979. She was the same age as her husband had been, on the eve of the ninth anniversary of his death.
She rests at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises alongside her husband and their daughter Anne.

Tributes