In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him. He was Sir Charles Chaplin from that point forward. He was eighty-five and his health was declining, but he continued to travel when he could manage it.
By the mid-1970s, age had taken most of his mobility. He spent the majority of his time at the Manoir de Ban. Oona managed the household and traveled with him when his health allowed. Their eight children — Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, Victoria, Eugene, Jane, Annette, and Christopher, born between 1944 and 1962 — had grown and scattered to various degrees, though the family remained connected to the Corsier household.
On Christmas morning, December 25, 1977, Charlie Chaplin died in his sleep at the Manoir de Ban. He was eighty-eight years old. The immediate cause of death was recorded as a stroke. He had lived in Switzerland for twenty-five years.
The funeral was private and the burial was in the cemetery at Corsier-sur-Vevey — the Cimetière de Corsier-sur-Vevey, a small churchyard in the village. It was the place he had lived and worked for the last quarter of his life. The grave was marked simply. The family was present. The world’s press reported his death, which received front-page treatment in newspapers across Europe, North America, and beyond. Obituaries detailed his career, his exile, his honors, his eight children by Oona.
Sixty-eight days later, the grave was empty.
Part Two: Who Charlie Chaplin Married and What That Marriage Made Possible
The theft of Chaplin’s coffin and the ransom demands that followed were directed at a specific person: Oona Chaplin, his widow. Understanding what happened in March and May of 1978 — what decisions were made, by whom, and with what consequences — requires understanding who Oona was and what her life with Chaplin had actually involved.