The famous and elegant American actress of the 1950s, who rose to prominence by marrying Prince Rainier III. Princess of Monaco was the envy of many women because of her beauty and status. While her life seemed like a real fairytale with her castle life, social outings and glamorous outfits, Grace Kelly met a tragic end. More than 40 years after her death, the legendary princess is the subject of a new illustrated biography.
Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, mother of the current Prince Albert II of Monaco, has experienced the most beautiful and the least beautiful that life has to offer. Born into a wealthy family in 1929, she is the daughter of John Brendan Kelly, a former Olympic rowing champion who amassed his fortune by founding a brick factory in Philadelphia. However, Grace is not a spoiled child, as her father raises his four children in the most frugal manner.
Photo provided by Casa Éditions
According to the author, Grace spent her entire life seeking the love and approval of her father, a tremendously narcissistic man who favored Peggy, his eldest daughter. Even when she won the Oscar for Best Actress ahead of Judy Garland and Audrey Hepburn, her father showed no pride in his daughter.
As a teenager, Grace Kelly had the ambition to become an actress. His father categorically rejects this. At the age of 18, she volunteered to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and was successful.
In order to finance her studies and the rented room in the Big Apple, she models for Coca-Cola. It must be said that in addition to its elegance, it is also perceived as terribly photogenic.
We will then see her on stage and then at the age of 22 in her first film. It was American actor Gary Cooper who first noticed them and we saw them together on the big screen more than once.
But it was Alfred Hitchcock’s films that made her famous. She will appear in three of his films: The Crime Was Almost Perfect, Rear Window and La main au Collar.
Sacrifice her acting career
After an affair with the famous American actor Bing Crosby, she was courted by Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Photo provided by Intercontinental Carlton
By marrying Grace, Prince Rainier III was able to. Thanks to Grace’s great fame, put Monaco on the world map.
At 27, Grace Kelly married the prince, but had to sacrifice her acting career.
In just six years of her career in Hollywood, she appeared in eleven films.
Once she’s married and a princess, Grace’s constraints multiply.
Although she enjoys incredible fame, like Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, life in Monaco is difficult. She feels alone, she’s homesick, the army of servants annoys her and she has to learn French. The 200-room castle is a golden prison. Furthermore, she is aware of her husband Rainier’s infidelity. Grace then takes refuge in charity work.
Tragic ending
On September 13, 1982, Grace was the victim of a fatal car accident from Monaco on the way to the airport on the Côte d’Azur.
The accident occurred on the Moyenne Corniche, a winding road overlooking Monaco, in a Rover that she was driving. Accompanied by her daughter, the then 17-year-old Princess Stéphanie, she skidded and fell 35 meters deeper into the abyss. The driver was supposed to drive her, but that was different due to the numerous haute couture dresses in the back seat, while Stéphanie had to do an internship at the Dior workshop in Paris. Grace falls into a coma and dies in hospital the next day at the age of 52. She has a crushed lung, a collapsed chest, a stomach bleed, a broken right femur and, most importantly, irreversible damage to her brain.
She is considered clinically dead and Prince Rainier is aware that if his wife survives, she will be reduced to a vegetative state.
He will therefore take the decision to authorize the shutdown of the devices that keep them artificially alive.
Stéphanie miraculously survived, despite suffering multiple cervical fractures and a concussion.
Like Princess Diana, who also died in a traffic accident, various conspiracy theories circulated. Among the many hypotheses, that of sabotaged brakes persists, mainly due to the lack of skid marks on the road. She is survived by three children, Princess Caroline of Monaco, Prince Albert of Monaco (current sovereign prince) and her youngest daughter, Princess Stéphanie of Monaco.
Photo from Guillaume Evin’s Facebook page
♦ The author Guillaume Evin has written numerous books, including biographies Clint Eastwood, the last of the giants And Once upon a time there was James Bond.