Philippe Henri Xavier Antoine de Gaulle (; 28 December 1921 – 13 March 2024) was a French admiral and senator. He was the eldest and last surviving child of General Charles de Gaulle, the first president of the French Fifth Republic, and of his wife, Yvonne.
Early life
De Gaulle was born in Paris on 28 December 1921 and was baptised on 8 June the following year in the Church of St Francis Xavier in the 7th Arrondissement. He was educated at the Collège Stanislas de Paris, where his father had also studied, and subsequently joined the French Navy. According to Charles de Gaulle, Philippe was named after his family ancestor Jean-Baptiste de Gaulle, but it has been suggested that he was named after General Philippe Pétain, of whom his father was a great admirer.
Free French naval officer
thumb|upright|Philippe during the Second World War|left
A student at the École Navale at the time of the invasion of France in 1940, he did not hear his father's appeal of 18 June but escaped to the United Kingdom, declared his allegiance to Free France and joined the Free French Naval Forces.
During the Second World War he fought in the Channel campaign and in the Battle of the Atlantic. He turned 100 in 2021 and died at Les Invalides on 13 March 2024, at the age of 102. After a private funeral at the St Louis Cathedral on 20 March 2024, President Emmanuel Macron led a national tribute at Les Invalides.
Honours
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (2005) (Grand Officer – 1980)
- Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit
- War Cross 1939–1945
- Medal of Aeronautics
Charles never appointed his son a Companion of the Liberation, stating ("everyone knows that you were my first companion"), probably to avoid being open to possible accusations of nepotism. Yet, in the opinion of some Gaullists and companions, Philippe would have been deserving of the honour, given his immediate engagement in Free France and his service in the army for five years, often at the forefront. Nor did Philippe's father award his son the Medal of the Resistance.