The Story of Grace Kelly, Whose Life Wasn’t As Easy and Dreamlike As It Seems
The biography of actress Grace Kelly could be a great plot for a fairy tale. She achieved success in the movie industry when she was still very young. Grace won the prestigious Oscar Award. She was loved by her colleagues and her viewers. And as for her husband, she chose a noble Prince and ruled the country together with him. However, her life was not as easy as it might seem at first sight.
We at CHEERY decided to take a good look at the biography of the star to learn more about the difficulties she had to deal with in her life.
The wedding that was supposed to become a fabulous day, ended up being a disaster.
On April 1956, a large ocean liner sailed into the bay of Monte Carlo. It was an important event for the country. On the liner, famous actress Grace Kelly was coming to the country to marry Prince Rainier III. Above the bay, there was a plane flying and scattering flower petals around. There were crowds of people waiting to see the bride being hugged by her future husband.
It seemed that the beautiful couple was going to have a life that is only possible in fairy tales. They were supposed to have 2 ceremonies: civil and church. But the spouses recalled those days with dread.
The wedding of Grace Kelly and Rainier III started with a scandal. Some very expensive jewelry was stolen from the hotel room. The next day, guests noticed that the Prince’s mother, who was divorced, appeared together with her driver René Girier. The driver turned out to be an ex-jewelry thief who had been in jail several times.
Rainier wasn’t thrilled about his mother’s choice, and his father agreed with him. There was a huge argument involving the Prince’s parents. The next day, standing in front of the altar with microphones and cameras all around, Prince Rainier III regretted not taking his future wife to a quiet mountain temple for the ceremony.
Grace was considered to be an ugly duckling.
Grace Patricia Kelly, the future Princess of Monaco, was born in a successful and powerful family. Her father, Jack Kelly, a 3-time Olympic gold medalist, created a prospering empire from nothing. Grace’s mother, Margaret, was a champion swimmer and cover model. The family had 4 children, and the shy girl with poor health was considered the black sheep. And the fact that the girl was interested in acting didn’t help her much.
Her parents didn’t think it was a good profession. Her father criticized her choice and when he was asked if he was proud of his daughter, Jack said that whatever Grace did, Peggy could do even better.
The actress was shy about her appearance and tried to hide her chin.
At first, nobody was too eager to have Grace as a star in one of their movies. She was considered too tall and thin. And the actress herself hated her chin. She thought it was too heavy. This is why Grace learned to hide it by posing in a certain way or covering it with accessories.
The parents refused to pay for their daughter’s studies. Grace had to appear in commercials to pay for her acting classes. She didn’t think she was a good model. She joked that anyone that saw her promoting a brand would instantly switch to a competitor.
Grace didn’t think she was an interesting person.
Grace became famous after the release of Mogambo where she had a supporting role. She was accompanied by such stars as Clark Gable and Ava Gardner, and she was nominated for an Oscar. Soon, Alfred Hitchcock chose Grace to be his muse. But she wasn’t the typical Hollywood star. She wore simple clothes and was polite and reserved, so some people thought she was arrogant and cold.
Grace carefully protected her personal life and refused to answer provocative questions. A reporter that wanted to write something “hot” tormented her for 3 weeks. Finally, he just said that Grace couldn’t tell anything interesting. And Kelly replied, “I don’t think I’m very interesting either.”
Her father ignored her fiancé.
Grace Kelly had romances before she married Prince Rainier III. Among the men she dated were Gary Cooper, William Holden, and Clark Gable. But she was engaged only once. Famous fashion designer Oleg Cassini saw the actress in a restaurant and said that Grace would be his wife. After some time, Grace agreed to become his wife.
The wedding plans were destroyed by Grace’s family. The girl invited Oleg to a country house to meet her parents. As Cassini wrote later, it was the worst week of his life. Grace’s father simply ignored the man. And he told his daughter that he was against this marriage.
The first date between Rainier III and Grace could not have happened.
Actress Olivia de Havilland, the star of Gone with the Wind, arranged the meeting between Grace Kelly and Rainier III. Even though the Prince and Grace were interested in each other, their first meeting almost finished a failure.
Grace was rushing to get ready for her date when the electricity went off. Neither the iron nor the hairdryer worked. The actress had to hide her wet hair using some flowers and wear a dress with wrinkle-free fabric. Rainier III came 1 hour late and Grace had to wait for him. But despite all the problems, the Prince and Grace liked each other.
Grace paid part of her dowry herself.
The path to the wedding for Rainier III and Grace wasn’t exactly paved with flowers. The Monaco inhabitants weren’t thrilled about the Prince’s choice. They thought that Americans were too eccentric. Grace had to undergo a medical examination to prove to everyone that she could give heirs to her future husband.
The Prince of Monaco required a dowry of $2 million from Grace’s family. Grace’s father was furious. But Grace knew what to do and paid half of the amount with her own money.
Her children saw their babysitter more often than their own mother.
After the wedding, Grace had to leave the world of cinema. Despite a lot of offers, including some from her favorite director, Hitchcock, she didn’t appear in movies anymore. Some people say it was her husband’s wish. Others believe she didn’t want to leave her husband and her children for a long time. So Grace directed all of her energy to charity and the development of Monaco.
She initiated the annual Christmas balls to which all children of the country could attend. Grace founded a ballet school in Monaco. New gardens, playgrounds, festivals, and many other things appeared in the country thanks to her. Kelly often invited Hollywood celebrities to visit her, making Monaco even more attractive to tourists.
This feverish activity didn’t leave Grace much time for her children. And they also didn’t spend a lot of time with their father. Grace’s children remember that until a certain age, the closest person to them was their babysitter. When the woman went on vacation, they were so sad that Grace had to ask her to come back.
There were lots of rumors around Grace’s marriage.
The family life of the ex-actress and the Prince wasn’t easy. Many people said it was a marriage for money and that Kelly regretted it. Grace missed her work in the movies and her friends. And Rainier was embarrassed of his wife’s friends because they were too relaxed. The Prince didn’t show his emotions and didn’t support his wife in public.
There were rumors that both spouses had affairs. There was even some information that the Prince had had affairs with other women not long before the wedding, which really upset Grace. And, allegedly, she had affairs too. And she sometimes escaped from her husband and went to her Paris apartment to have some rest.
At the same time, relatives claimed that the marriage between Grace and the Prince was based on love and they were great for each other. Even though Rainier didn’t show his emotions much, he was deeply attached to his wife. When Grace got into a car accident, the Prince never recovered and never married again.
Grace predicted Diana would have a difficult life.
Grace Kelly always said that she preferred to remember the past with warmth instead of being sorry for the opportunities she had missed. But palace life was not always easy for her. Grace suffered from loneliness. She once had a private conversation with Princess Diana. Diana was very nervous during an official event and Grace noticed it. So she took her aside and said, “Don’t worry, it’ll only get worse.”
But no matter how complex and confusing the relationship between the Prince and Grace was, they made Monaco one of the most successful countries in the world. The country changed beyond recognition while they were the rulers. And many inhabitants still think about Grace with warm and tender feelings.
In your opinion, should people sacrifice their careers and ambitions in the name of marriage, even if it is with a prince?