General De Gaulle, then President of France, visited Chile between September 29 and October 2nd of 1964. He was the first French President to visit Chile.

De Gaulle and his wife traveled by sea on the Colbert cruiser. The Croiseur Colbert C611, an anti air cruiser, was the official sea transport of General Charles de Gaulle, (the “floating Elysée”), where he stayed with his wife in the Admiral’s suite for long voyages. It was decorated with furniture from the Elysée Palace. Also, a telephone connected to the Elysée palace switchboard was installed on the boat, as well as the President’s nuclear trigger systems. De Gaulle signed many decrees aboard this very vessel. The decrees were marked “Made aboard Colbert”.

De Gaulle was received in Valparaiso, the principal port of Chile, by the then Chilean President Jorge Alessandri. The Navy School rendered the corresponding honors, marching and saluting the foreign mandatary. Then he was transported to the capital Santiago. A long line of people on both sides of the road greeted the French President while he traveled the 77 miles between the port and the capital.

In his visit to Latin America, De Gaulle traveled with his wife Madame Yvonne De Gaulle.

During the visit there were many public ceremonies that De Gaulle and his wife attended. One of those ceremonies was the change of the guard in front of the presidential palace in Santiago, La Moneda.

Since I was a radio journalist, my mission that day was to cover the ceremony and write a story about it. I was standing in the area assigned to the press just behind a barrier separating us, the press, from the carpeted area that was going to be used for General De Gaulle and his wife to reach the platform where they were to be seated to observe the traditional ceremony.

General De Gaulle appeared first acompanied by President Allessandri and then, behind them, came Madame De Gaulle and her secretary. They walked so near to us that I heard Madame De Gaulle tell her secretary that the sun was very strong at the same time she made a gesture covering her eyes. Fast I touched the arm of the secretary and handed her my dark glasses indicating Madame De Gaulle and saying. “S’il vous plaît donnez-les à la dame”. (Please give them to the lady). The secretary was obviously please and asked me “Quel est votre nom?” I said, “Beatriz Beltran” and she continued to give my dark glasses to the lady. After she cleaned them with her handkerchief, Madame De Gaulle wore my dark glasses.

The ceremony of Changing Guard takes place on the square in front of La Moneda Palace, in Santiago, Chile. The current drill for the changing of the guard was instituted in 1936. During the drill two mounted units lead a military band and the new guard handover to the departing guard. A Color Guard emerges, and salutes are exchanged between the Honor Guard at the main gate and the officers of each unit while the Carabineros’ Band plays martial music. Then the Color Guard walks the new Guard at Plaza de la Ciudadania to La Moneda Palace. The color guard is a military unit responsible for the protection and display of the national flag and regimental colors during ceremonies and parades

After the ceremony, I left to write a little article about the event. While I was trying to finish my article a “junior” (office assistant) came to me with a quite bulky envelope.

Inside the envelope were my dark glasses with a note from Mme De Gaulle thanking me for my “gentillesse” and a note inviting me to the banquet that night at the Presidential Palace.

After a quick trip to my house to change my dress, I went to the banquet and had the opportunity to greet Mme Yvonne de Gaulle and interchange a few words with her before the dinner.

It was a quite interesting day for me. I never find out how the secretary, or whoever it was, was able to find out who I was and where did I work just knowing my name. Was I famous too?