Charles de Gaulle strode down the ChampsElysees yesterday on the 30th anniversary of his death. Not his ghost, but a six-metre high bronze likeness, unveiled in the presence of President Chirac. One third of the French population today say Mr Chirac is "closest to the ideals of Gen de Gaulle".
The sculptor Jean Cardot, who also created the bronze Winston Churchill a block away, said he wanted to freeze the general's triumphant march of August 26th, 1944. De Gaulle's words on that day - "Paris shattered, Paris martyred, but Paris liberated" - are etched in the pedestal. The statue was to have been inaugurated last June, on the 60th anniversary of de Gaulle's Appel du 18 Juin over the BBC. But the foundation which raised £540,216 for the sculpture was short of donors.
The two ageing Frenchmen sitting next to me in the stand sighed and smiled when sunshine burst over the traffic circle where the ceremony was held. "Even if it was pouring rain, the sun always came out wherever he went", said Mr Paul Fontenil (92). He was, it turned out, de Gaulle's driver from 1946 until the death of "The Last Great Frenchman" in 1970. Alluding to de Gaulle's seemingly mystical power over the weather, Mr Jacques Sourzat (77), his former bodyguard, added, "we always said, `c'est le temps du Grand Charles'." He had brought Mr Fontenil, who is blind.
"Everyone misses him. France misses him," Mr Fontenil said. Their adoration for the man credited with saving France from the shame of Nazi occupation is widespread here. "Gen de Gaulle embodied France," were the opening words of Mr Chirac's speech. Even the left-wing Le Monde wrote that "de Gaulle is immutably the greatest man in the history of France, whose glory outshines that of Napoleon, Louis XIV or Charlemagne".
De Gaulle's legend may be more powerful than ever, but his political heritage has been darkened by scandal and infighting. Fifty-three members of the de Gaulle family signed a public notice disowning the general's eldest grandson, also called Charles de Gaulle, when "little Charles" stood for the European Parliament on the ticket of Mr JeanMarie Le Pen's extreme rightwing National Front last year. At the request of de Gaulle's son, Admiral Philippe de Gaulle, Mr Chirac's RPR party has stopped its annual November 9th pilgrimage to the general's home at Colombey-les-deux-Eglises.
The Elysee had to negotiate the joint appearance of Mr Chirac and the Mayor of Paris, Mr Jean Tiberi, at yesterday's ceremony. Mr Tiberi was forcibly excluded from the RPR last month because he insists on standing for re-election against the party's wishes while he is under investigation for alleged vote-rigging and illegal fund-raising.
Mr Chirac defended himself against demands from the left that he be questioned in the fundraising scandal. "We must not, under cover of partisan ideologies or blind passion, choose the wrong battle or century", the French leader said. "There is no democracy, justice or freedom without respect for the Republic, respect for the law and respect for those responsible for speaking of the law."
