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PM and Sarkozy honour de Gaulle

The Prime Minister and President Sarkozy took part in a ceremony at Royal Chelsea Hospital to commemorate the 70th anniversary of General de Gaulle's broadcast to the Free French

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

President Sarkozy’s visit also included a wreath-laying ceremony with HRH The Prince of Wales and the unveiling of a plaque at BBC Broadcasting House, the place from which de Gaulle called upon the French people to resist the Nazi occupation in 1940.

Both the Prime Minister and President Sarkozy made short speeches to mark the event. Mr Cameron said that today is a reminder that Britain and France “are not just neighbours in the geographical sense, but also in the emotional sense”.

The Prime Minister also paid tribute to British and French troops fighting alongside each other in Afghanistan today.

President Sarkozy paid tribute to Britain for enabling Charles de Gaulle to broadcast his message. The President said that in commemorating the 70th anniversary of June 18th, 1940, “the British Nation and the French Nation remember that their unity has always been a condition of their survival”.

Published 18 June 2010