Prince Albert II honours Josephine Baker: 50 years on, the star still shines brightly
The commemoration marked the 50th anniversary of Josephine Baker's demise © Michaël Alesi / Prince's Palace
It was an emotional and solemn moment, as Prince Albert II presided over a commemorative ceremony at Monaco’s cemetery, paying a stirring tribute to the extraordinary Josephine Baker, fifty years to the day after her passing.
The American, French and Monegasque anthems were played with dignity by the Prince’s Carabinieri Orchestra on Saturday 12 April. In a powerful symbolic gesture, the Sovereign Prince laid a wreath of flowers on the grave of the exceptional artist, courageous resistance fighter and tireless campaigner for civil rights.
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Soprano Nathalie Nicaud brought the artist’s repertoire back to life, performing several of her iconic songs in remembrance and celebration.
An unbreakable bond with the Principality
“She was, and will remain, a Monegasque at heart,” Prince Albert II solemnly declared at a ceremony honouring her induction into the Panthéon in 2021. Those words rang with a particular truth on the anniversary, as a reminder of the refuge the artist found in the Principality.
The story of Josephine Baker and Monaco was written thanks to Princess Grace, whose support was crucial in the artists’ last years of the artist’s latter years. Given the financial difficulties that forced Baker to leave her Les Milandes castle in 1968, Princess Grace provided her and her “rainbow tribe” of twelve adopted children with a home at the Villa Maryvonne in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.
It was also thanks to Princess Grace that Joséphine Baker was able to return to the stage, at the Monegasque Red Cross Gala in 1974 in particular, before her final performances at the Bobino in Paris. A few days after the Parisian opening night, Josephine Baker died after suffering a brain haemorrhage on 12 April 1975.
A living legacy
Today, Monaco continues to honour the memory of an exceptional woman. After entering the Panthéon in 2021, Josephine Baker is also immortalised on French 20-cent euro coins that have gradually been put into circulation since summer 2024.
Fifty years after her death, the legacy of the free-spirited and universal woman, whose message of fraternity is still strikingly relevant today, continues to radiate from the Principality where her body is laid to rest, in accordance with her family’s wishes.