France: Operation Royal

"The King of Cambodia will be moving in here for an operation," explained the staff last week, as they cleared the patients from the entire second floor of the modern pavilion at Paris' Cochin Hospital, which specializes in disorders of the urinary tract. Apparently nobody remembered that Cambodia has no king. And nobody noticed the king-sized, 6-ft. 7-in. bed that was brought in a day or two later. The secret was well kept: the royal patient was, in fact, President Charles de Gaulle.

Under the Knife. De Gaulle had known since December that...

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