DE GAULLE Autographed letter dated and signed to his cook 1957

  

DE GAULLE Charles - Autographed letter dated and signed addressed to his cook Augustine Bastide. Autographed letter dated and signed addressed to his cook Augustine Bastide. Paris, October 13, 1957, 17.5x20.5cm, one sheet.

An autographed letter dated and signed by Charles de Gaulle, addressed to his cook Augustine Bastide, who served him from 1940 to 1958, 13 lines in black ink on his letterhead. There is a trace of a fold inherent to the folding for mailing. The de Gaulles took in the recipient of this letter, Augustine Bastide, upon their arrival in London. Originally from Provence, she served the family from 1940 to 1958, first in Great Britain and then in France. At the de Gaulle couple's table in a Britain severely affected by rationing, one could find rabbits, whelks, and other frogs.

The "Méridionale with a blunt tongue" remained in service to the general for nearly twenty years, sometimes provoking the laughter of the stoic head of state: In 1946, after he had voluntarily left power, he said to her: "You see Augustine, politics is more disappointing than working in the kitchen." To which she replied, hands on her hips: "But General, why don't you decide to hang up your apron for good?" My father couldn't help but laugh (Philippe de Gaulle, De Gaulle my father).