DE GAULLE Autographed letter dated and signed to his cook A. Bastide 1960

  
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, November 28, 1960, 13.5x21cm, one sheet. Autographed letter dated and signed by Charles de Gaulle, addressed to his cook Augustine Bastide, who served him from 1940 to 1958. 8 lines in blue ink on his letterhead. Trace of folding inherent to the mailing. The de Gaulles had taken 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 an England severely affected by rationing, one could find rabbits, periwinkles, and other frogs.

The "Méridionale with a straightforward manner" remained in service to the general for nearly twenty years, sometimes eliciting laughter from the stoic head of state: In 1946, just after he had voluntarily left power, he remarked to her: "You see Augustine, politics is more disappointing than working at the stove." To which she retorted, 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).