Les Grands dossiers de l'Histoire: Villa Windsor in the spotlight

Yesterday, in the program Les Grands dossiers de l'Histoire on Radio Classique, Franck Ferrand returned to the passage of General de Gaulle in his Pavillon de Boulogne, today Villa Windsor.

During this broadcast, the journalist retraced the two years spent by the general in this house, from 1944 to 1946. De Gaulle himself chose this opulent pavilion in the Bois de Boulogne: a quiet and discreet place, away from the Élysée, where he did not want to settle. As head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, de Gaulle examined in particular the files of pardon of death row prisoners and received distinguished guests such as Eisenhower and Winston Churchill. Franck Ferrand insists on the calm and intimate character of this residence, where also takes place, in January 1946, the wedding of his daughter, Élisabeth de Gaulle. On January 20, 1946, the general left power, and the house with him.

The journalist then retraces the fate of the house after the general’s departure. Remained empty for a time, it welcomed in 1950 the sultan of Morocco Mohammed V, then in 1953 two distinguished guests, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. A worldly and extremely visible life unfolds there, in settings entirely redesigned to the taste of Wallis Simpson, where all of Paris scrolls. It was Mohamed Al-Fayed, the last resident of the place, who gave the house its current name, Villa Windsor, in tribute to the royal couple.

Franck Ferrand concludes on the future of this residence, now managed and restored by the Mansart Foundation, which is preparing its first opening to the general public.

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