A national tribute was paid this Wednesday March 20, 2024 to Admiral Philippe de Gaulle, who died a week ago at the age of 102. The ceremony was chaired by the Head of State Emmanuel Macron, in the heart of Les Invalides.
“Admiral de Gaulle will have crossed the last century in the shadow of a great man” but “he will have traced his own furrow”. Emmanuel Macron presided over the national tribute paid to Admiral Philippe de Gaulle, the general’s son, who died last Wednesday at the age of 102. In the courtyard of the Hôtel national des Invalides, the President of the Republic delivered the eulogy of the man “who made greatness his profession” by engaging in the resistance and the French navy. But Philippe de Gaulle never hid his difficulties in being his father’s son and the head of state referred to them in his speech: “How hard it is to be de Gaulle after de Gaulle.” “You reminded us, admiral, that there are oaks that nothing fells,” said Emmanuel Macron, in a reference to André Malraux’s work on General de Gaulle.
The ceremony
The national tribute paid to Philippe de Gaulle, the 24th since the arrival of Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée, was to testify “to his unwavering commitment to the French Navy, to France and to the values whose heritage he bore ” underlined the Elysée in a press release. The ceremony began at 11:25 a.m. after the arrival of the presidential couple. Honors were paid to the president, before the Marseillaise and a review of the Head of State’s troops.
The coffin of Philippe de Gaulle entered the courtyard of the Invalides to “Ar Mor Divent”, music from Bagad de Lann-Bihoué, a Breton group of the national navy before the funeral eulogy delivered by Emmanuel Macron. The bell rang “for the dead” before the minute of silence observed in memory of General De Gaulle’s son. A second Marseillaise was played in front of the coffin of the “admiral”, before his departure. Then a navy Rafale flew over the scene before a rendition of the “March of the 2nd DB” by the navy band and the French army choir.
A lover of life until his death
Born on December 28, 1921, Philippe de Gaulle, son of General de Gaulle, died on the night of Tuesday March 12 to Wednesday March 13, 2024. He died at the National Institution of Invalides where he had been a resident for two years. Philippe de Gaulle was particularly known for his long and renowned military career which began at the Liberation, particularly in Paris. At the end of the 1960s, he failed to enter politics when a “legitimist” Gaullist party tried to form around him: the Center of Free Republicans. This did not prevent “Admiral” de Gaulle from becoming RPR senator from Paris in 1986. A position he kept until 2004. He had ended his military career much earlier, in 1982.
His end of life was an opportunity for him to enjoy the simple pleasures of life and to sharpen his curiosity, again and again. Sport, cinema, literature, music… The admiral never stopped learning, until the last day, always in the presence of his family. “When everything is going well, I receive visits from my family from time to time. I listen to classical music, I watch the big tennis, rugby and football matches on television”he explained in a major interview with Paris Match in November 2020.