InvestigationIn 1942, the one who led the Free French Forces from London moved with his family to 99 Frognal, in the peaceful district of Hampstead. A little-known part of the exile of the leader of the Resistance, which certain witnesses maintain in memory.
Hampstead, North West London. Imagine Montmartre in the British capital: steep alleys, small hidden places, a little “village” spirit. But without tourists, with more bricks and sumptuous villas. And, above all, space, a lot of space, with a huge English-style park, the Heath, sometimes so wild that it is in the countryside, and superb views that do not differ many of those that the landscape painter John Constable painted at the beginning of the XIXe century, if only on the horizon, behind the dome of Saint Paul, now stands the bouquet of towers of the City.
A discreet black plate
Resort for wealthy Londoners who, from the 17th centurye century, came to seek fresh air far from the miasma of the Thames, this ultra-chic suburb has hosted an impressive number of illustrious characters. The composer Edward Elgar, the writers Daphné du Maurier or Robert Louis Stevenson lived on these hills. Fleeing Nazism, Sigmund Freud, his wife and daughter Anna took refuge there in 1938, in a pretty villa now transformed into a museum.
Hampstead also hosts, well hidden but still alive, a small piece of French history, of which a handful of inhabitants continue to maintain the memory, at 99 rue Frognal, below a small Catholic church, Saint Mary . The two-story brown brick mansion with severe, typically Georgian architecture was erected in 1740 and rehabilitated just before World War II.
It is there that, between 1942 and 1943, General de Gaulle and his family settled – his wife, Yvonne, their daughters, Elisabeth and Anne. Philippe, the son, joined the Free French Naval Forces. On the wall, street side, a discreet black plaque soberly specifies: “Charles de Gaulle, 1890-1970, soldier, statesman and political reformer”.
London has some traces of the presence of the General, who spent three long years in the English capital. The brooding former Under-Secretary of State for National Defense, opposed to the armistice accepted by the Pétain government, landed on British soil (only accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Geoffroy Chodron de Courcelles) on June 17, 1940 , at 49 years old. The very next day, Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave him access to the BBC airwaves.
And recognized him as leader of the Free French Forces ten days later. De Gaulle was therefore assigned premises, at 4 Carlton Gardens, which became the HQ of Free France. Situated directly opposite the current residence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the immaculate building is now the headquarters of Edmond de Rothschild Bank in London. The offices mainly consist of a large room, where the bank’s board of directors meets. The only witness to the General’s time: a clock.
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