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 he needed the operation, but kept silent and refused to change plans for his Mexico trip. One day last week he tape-recorded a 17-minute TV speech. When the speech was broadcast that same evening, De Gaulle watched himself, seemingly vigorous as ever, calling the U.S. an "uncertain" ally and proclaiming once more France's need for an independent nuclear deterrent and its own costly program of foreign aid to underdeveloped nations. Then, with Madame de Gaulle, he was driven without escort through the dark and rain-washed streets of Paris to the hospital.

Rumor that De Gaulle was under the knife sped through Paris and the world the next morning. The staff at the Elysee Palace, De Gaulle's official residence, refused for hours either to confirm or deny the story; they may not have known the truth themselves, for the chef prepared the presidential lunch as usual. Stock prices tumbled, then recovered, on the Paris Bourse.

Finally, at 7:15 p.m., a bulletin signed by three doctors said that De Gaulle had been operated on that morning for "a disease of the prostate"--nature unspecified, but probably the nonmalignant enlargement of that gland which often afflicts men of advancing years. Unofficial word was that De Gaulle would be in the hospital ten days, might need another month of convalescence.

Under His Orders. De Gaulle's opponents inevitably compared him with Britain's Harold Macmillan, who resigned as Prime Minister last fall after similar surgery at a similar age. But at week's end it was clear that Charles de Gaulle had no intention of giving up the rule of France, nor of altering his apparent decision to seek a second seven-year term in the 1965 elections.

Though Premier Georges Pompidou will be minding the store during De Gaulle's stay in the hospital, the general's room is connected by phone with the Elysee Palace, and the suite next door, occupied by Madame de Gaulle, includes a couple of offices for members of his staff. Even the eleven-hour delay between the start of his surgery and the official announcement was a result of his direct orders. The medical bulletin was not released until De Gaulle himself approved the text.

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