Josephine Baker barricaded herself in the kitchen of her château when it was sold for her debts, and was carried out to the steps

Josephine Baker fell in love with the Château des Milandes in the Dordogne in the 1930s. She married the bandleader Jo Bouillon in its chapel in 1947. From 1955 she adopted 12 children of different countries and religions, whom she called the Rainbow Tribe, and raised them at the château. Bouillon tried to curb her spending. Contractors billed her repeatedly for the same work. When he left she was deep in debt. Creditors seized the château in 1964, and an appeal by Brigitte Bardot saved it. In 1968 it was put up for sale again. A photograph dated 28 March 1968 shows her reading the notice of the foreclosure sale. The new owner changed the locks. She got in through a window and barricaded herself in the kitchen. She was carried out, sat on the steps, and was taken to hospital in shock. Princess Grace of Monaco helped her settle at Roquebrune. She died on 12 April 1975 after a run of shows meant to pay her debts. Grace arranged her burial in Monaco. In 2021 France placed her in the Panthéon with a cenotaph holding soil from Saint-Louis, Paris, Milandes and Monaco. Her children chose to leave her coffin in Monaco.