The original Hollywood princess before Meghan Markle: Princess Grace of Monaco
Long before a chance meeting propelled Meghan Markle from actress to instant royal, there was another American princess who captivated the world.
Before a chance meeting propelled Meghan Markle from Hollywood star to instant royal, there was another American princess who captivated the world’s attention.
She too was a symbol of glamour and poise — one of the most photographed women in the world at the time, who embraced her new noble duties with ease and style.
Grace Kelly was already a veteran model and actress of the stage and small and big screens when she was 25, and so she led the US delegation to the Canne Film Festival in 1955.
While there, the icon of Hollywood’s golden era accepted an invitation for a photo opportunity with Prince Rainier III, the sovereign of the tiny European principality of Monaco.
And similar to reports of the sparks that flew between Meghan and Prince Harry when they first met, Grace was instantly smitten.
She returned to the United States to film The Swan about a young woman who becomes the object of affection of a prince. The whole time, she received love letters from Prince Rainier.
That December, he flew to America under the guise of seeing a doctor for a check-up and was invited to spend Christmas with the young actress and her family in Pennsylvania.
Less than 24 hours after arriving, Prince Rainier proposed and a delighted Kelly accepted.
Within weeks, she bid farewell to her home and her career, setting off on a 10-day journey by boat to her new life in Monaco.
“I felt as if I was sailing off into the unknown,” she wrote in a letter to a friend. “I couldn’t help looking out and wondering, what is going to happen to me now?”
It might’ve been a sensation Meghan, now the Duchess of Sussex, felt too after her engagement to Prince Harry when she walked away from a life on the screen.
Countless commentators have drawn comparisons between the two women — their grace, style and warmth.
WEDDING OF THE CENTURY
Like Meghan, the world was enamoured with the young American actress Kelly when she became a princess-to-be.
Her lavish wedding to Prince Rainier was watched by a global television audience and saw 1600 journalists converge on the small island.
But unlike Meghan and Harry’s nuptials last year, there were no fellow European royals in attendance.
Monaco’s reputation as a glittering destination for the less than shiny — the seedy world’s hidden playground — kept the respectful and dignified away.
However a string of Hollywood names were there, including Cary Grant and Ava Gardner, as well as Greek millionaire Aristotle Onassis, who would later marry Jackie Kennedy.
For locals, it was a celebration of both love and the future of the principality.
Their sovereign had married and, with luck, would produce an heir who would guarantee their independence, as without one Monaco was constitutionally bound to return to France.
And like Meghan, Princess Grace was pregnant almost immediately and gave birth to the couple’s first child Caroline just nine months and four days after marrying.
Two more followed, Albert and Stephanie, but Kelly was devastated by several miscarriages.
AN INTRUSIVE PRESS
Like Meghan, Kelly’s allure as a royal and an American celebrity was irresistable for the press for the entirety of her life.
She was relentlessly followed, as were her three children — particularly Caroline and Stephanie.
In a television interview in 1982 — her last media appearance before her death — Princess Grace revealed the girls were smuggled out of the palace in the boot of a car to avoid being followed by paparazzi.
There were constant tabloid headlines about their naughty behaviour, as well as marital difficulties between Princess Grace and Prince Rainier.
She said that Caroline particularly had felt like “a hunted animal” in what in many cases like an invasion of privacy.
“They really go in for the kill sometimes and it’s unfortunate,” Princess Grace said.
RELATIONSHIP WITH AMERICA
When her children were young, Princess Grace took them on countless trips to the US during summer, giving the royal trio a taste of American life.
Their, they were treated like nobility, following their parents to high-profile meetings with politicians and presidents, and dining alongside celebrities.
It was in stark contrast to their life in Monaco, which was privileged but also quite low-key.
“I’m very eager to keep up with what goes on there,” Princess Grace said in the 1982 interview about her view of America.
“Once my children were born, I began to feel at home (in Monaco). This is where my family is now. In many ways, I feel European … but I’m still very much American.”
Since marrying Prince Harry, Meghan hasn’t paid a visit to her homeland, so how she was straddle her old and new lives remains to be seen.
LEAVING WORK
Meghan seems to have coped with the loss of her identity as an ambitious actress, which was necessary in the transition to royal.
For Princess Grace, it was much more of a struggle and she wrote to friends about feeling a sense of grief to not be working.
It lingered long after her marriage, so when Alfred Hitchcock visited Monaco in 1962 to persuade her to star in his film Marnie, she accepted.
Her one-off return to the silver screen was supported by Prince Rainier, who reassured his people that her absence would be brief.
Before she left, she was one of the most sought-after actresses around, having helmed a number of classic films alongside leading men from Clark Gable to Gary Cooper and Cary Grant.
Her role in The Country Girl alongside Bing Crosby earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress.
“I can only say thank you with all my heart for all who made this possible for me,” she had said, clearly overwhelmed, while accepting the Oscar.
She was desperate to return to her original love one final time.
But there was a fierce backlash that Monaco’s princess would be seen kissing another man and so, after growing pressure, Princess Grace dropped out of the film.
“I didn’t particularly like being a movie star,” she said years later. “I liked working at my craft but I didn’t like the public appearance of being a movie star. Although, even in Hollywood, my private life was pretty much my own.
“When I married, my private life became public and I had no privacy at all. That was an adjustment to make.”
TRAGEDY STRIKES
Princess Grace and her daughter Stephanie had been fighting for days while at the royal family’s farm, high in the hills above Monaco.
The 17-year-old was wayward and stubborn, and refused to go to boarding school in Paris as her mother had instructed.
There was a fiery exchange between the pair. No ifs or buts, Stephanie was going away and Princess Grace would drive her to the train herself.
It was September 13, 1982, and she shooed off her chauffeur so mother and daughter could have some private time to talk.
They set off at 10am, Princess Grace driving the Range Rover down the steep and winding mountain road.
Somewhere along the way, Stephanie later recalled that her mother complained of a sudden and intense headache.
A truck driver behind the vehicle, who had no idea who was inside, told police he saw it suddenly swerve violently and collide with rocks.
He beeped in an attempt to alert the driver, but as Princess Grace approached a sharp bend, the car suddenly sped up.
It smashed through the stone barrier and somersaulted in the air, before falling and crashing some 90 metres below in the garden of a cottage.
“My mother is in there! Help my mother!” Stephanie screamed as people rushed to the wreckage. “Call me father at the palace!”
Princess Grace was rushed to hospital and placed on life support. She never regained consciousness and died a day later.
Doctors concluded that she had suffered a massive stroke while behind the wheel, and another while in hospital.
Princess Grace was 52.
Images of the star’s funeral beamed around the world, with 100 million people watching the moving ceremony on television.
A devastated and distraught Prince Rainier walked behind his American princess’ coffin, supported by daughter and heir Caroline, while Stephanie remained in hospital.
Unlike their marriage 30 years on, her service was packed with figures of power and nobility, seen as a sign of her revolutionary impact on Monaco.
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