“To conceal his immense shyness, de Gaulle sometimes adopts a distant manner which some find annoyingly regal. Actually, he is terrified to meet new people. Once, when forced to visit a fashionable Cairo hotel, he implored and finally ordered an aid to accompany him, because he couldn’t bear to meet strangers alone… he speaks English passably, but rarely does, because he is afraid of being ridiculed.”
– two from Amazon:
