The Horror of Love (22 page)

Nancy spent some of her happiest times with Gaston at Rue Monsieur.

‘Good clothes are a matter of health’ – Nancy was an enthusiastic devotee of the New Look.

Gaston’s daily walk across the Pont Royal. Nancy and Gaston were both ‘greedy for beauty’.

Nancy spent many happy summers in Venice, for whose preservation she and Gaston campaigned.

The ‘Pal Exquis’, home to ‘l’Embrassadeur’.

Gaston and Nancy were devoted to the spirit of ‘l’Europe Française’.

Nancy was a Gaullist even before she met Gaston.

Gaston in action as a politician.

Gaston’s achievements commemorated at Rue Bonaparte.

Louise de Vilmorin was a fixture at the Embassy, a lover of Duff Cooper and – possibly – Gaston.

Did Gaston seduce Nancy’s American friend Susan Mary Alsop?

The Sun King’s great house was the source of several of Nancy’s most successful books.

Paris at his feet and a beautiful woman in his arms – Gaston’s scalophilia began with l’Escalier Daru.

Nancy spent the last years of her life at Versailles.

In America, public opinion had turned virulently against De Gaulle after his refusal to make the military liaison broadcast. Encouraged by the White House and the State Department, the press portrayed the general as a presumptuous imposter who had actively impeded the Allied advance and sacrificed American lives for the sake of his own status, a position Roosevelt had affirmed at press conferences. De Gaulle surprised his critics by addressing the United States in English, declaring himself happy to be meeting the president once more and paying tribute to ‘all those American men and women who at home are working relentlessly for the war and also those brave American boys, soldiers, sailors and airmen, who abroad are fighting our common enemies’. By the end of his trip the
Chicago Daily News
, the right-wing
Nation
and
The New York Times
, as well as the London
Times
, were much more positive.