A president in the king's palace - De Gaulle in Trianon

To mark 50 years since the restoration of the Grand Trianon in 1966, and following the success of the exhibition titled The Grand Trianon, from Louis XIV to Charles de Gaulle in 2015, a new exhibition will showcase the Grand Trianon as a Palace of the French Republic during the presidency of General de Gaulle. **A little known part of the history of the Trianon** In 1963, upon the initiative of André Malraux, the general de Gaulle decided to fully restore, refurnish and renovate the Grand Trianon to turn it into a presidential home. Major modernisation work was carried out between January 1963 and June 1966 in order to receive foreign heads of State on official visits and host them in a setting worthy of the splendour of France. The Trianon-sous-Bois wing was fully refurnished in the Imperial style and was turned into a private space for living and working reserved for the President of the French Republic, while foreign heads of State were accommodated in the opposite wing of the building. Guests were received in the large rooms in Trianon and in the Cotelle Gallery. Since the beginning of the Fifth French Republic various famous guests have been welcomed in the Grand Trianon, including the American President Richard Nixon in 1969, Elizabeth II Queen of England in 1972, President of Russia Boris Yeltsin in 1992, and, more recently in 2014, Xi Jinping, the President of the People's Republic of China, during his official visit to France.
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