[1] A Fascist sympathizer, she was described as '..a middle aged woman, with a shrill voice, and a clamorous, demanding manner, who chatted like a magpie and lost her temper with ease.
She was described by insiders as la porte à côté, the side door through which interested persons could gain access to the state of mind of the highest echelon of the French government.
"[6] Reynaud's ability to lead his government against the Axis was compromised by his partner, who was on terms of friendship with the ambassadors from Mussolini's Italy[7] and Hitler's Germany.
De Portes intensified her efforts to persuade her partner to offer terms of surrender, going to the length of intriguing with a key diplomat from the United States of America.
The disgusted envoy later recalled that "I don't think her role in encouraging the defeatist elements during Reynaud's critical last days as prime minister should be underestimated.
"[12][13] Hélène de Portes' final intervention on 16 June was aimed at the last-ditch plan, strongly supported by Winston Churchill and Jean Monnet, to merge France and the United Kingdom into an emergency Franco-British Union.
The British journalist Noel Barber characterized Hélène as follows: The most powerful woman in France, she exercised a malign influence on the destinies of her country.