Followed by 30 million viewers, the actress’s wedding Grace Kelly and the Prince Rainier III of Monaco It was one of the most important events of the 20th century. The American actress, with golden hair, angelic features and a perfect figure, was 26 years old and was abandoning her successful career, in which she had been a Hitchcock girl (Rear Window, Perfect Crime and catch a thief) and had just been awarded an Oscar, unexpectedly, for her leading role in The Anguish of Living (1954) when the favorite was Judy Garland, for A star has been born. On the shores of the Mediterranean, the prince Rainier Luis Enrique Majencio Beltrán Grimaldi, He was recovering from a breakup with the French actress Gisele Pascal, who had not been approved to occupy the throne.
The courtship with Prince Rainier was very brief and lived through the media like a true fairy tale. In less than a year, and having retired from his Hollywood career with the film High society (1956) April 4, 1956 Grace Kelly boarded the ocean liner SS Constitution exclusively accompanied by her family, bridesmaids and her poodle on her way to her princess life in Monaco. The move included 80 pieces of luggage. Grace was a naturally elegant woman and was part of a aristocratic family and Catholic of Philadelphia, one of the richest in the city. She was used to galas, charity events and more. Monaco, at that time, was not such a well-known principality, so Grace’s mother became confused and believed that her future son-in-law was the prince of Morocco. Her admirers went to say goodbye to her at the port and upon her arrival, after 8 days of crossing, she arrived at the charming port on the shores of the Mediterranean, where she was received by about 20 thousand people, who celebrated the arrival of the future princess. consort.
Apparently, Hollywood’s union with royalty goes back a long way, and perhaps the most resonant marriage was that of the protagonists of this story, given that the actress was a famous star in the whole world. And Oscar-winning. Her career had been meteoric. In just six years she had gone from being a cigarette and lingerie model to one of the most sought-after actresses of Hollywood directors. When she met Rainier, Kelly lived in a 350-square-meter apartment facing Central Park, a luxury she could afford given the very high pay she charged, about $50,000 per movie. In her first appearances they paid her 750.
He met Raniero while the film with which he won the Oscar was being screened at the eighth edition of Cannes. His public relations team organized a photo shoot for the weekly French magazine Paris Match at the palace, which went down in history. At that time she had an affair with the French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont, who convinced her to travel to the Côte d’Azur. Monaco and Cannes are only 60 kilometers apart, but why did the actress make that visit? On the train trip on which she was heading from Paris to Cannes, accompanied by the costume designer Gladys de Segonzac, they ran into the actress Olivia de Havilland and her husband Pierre Galante, the editor of Paris Match, who was the one who proposed to her. note. “Would you like to go to Monaco?”, according to stories by the princess’s biographer, Donald Spoto. Some believe that this proposal was not accidental, but rather orchestrated by Aristotle Onassis, the Greek magnate who had interests in the small principality and sought to give it shine with a media marriage and no less than with the actress of the moment.
The note in the palace was made on May 6, 1955 and was almost cancelled. First, the power had gone out at Kelly’s hotel, the Carlton, due to a strike. That meant he would arrive at the palace without his hair styled and his dress unironed. But the costume designer found a solution. She had an updo with some artificial flowers that were in the hotel and wore a flowered dress that she didn’t need to iron, which they had given her for the cover of a fashion magazine. It wasn’t very her style or that elegant, but she got her out of trouble. They arrived at the appointment but Rainier was not waiting for them and took so long that Kelly was about to leave, upset by her inconsideration. The story would have been different if the prince had not arrived at the last minute.
Some 30 million viewers looked at the bride, the main protagonist in the Monaco Cathedral and those who could saw the color transmission, the first royal wedding to be seen on television. Grace Kelly embodied perfection and that wedding dress was dreamy. The creator of the model was Helen Rosea American designer who was successful in Hollywood: she had been in charge of the costumes for more than 200 films, had won two Oscars and also had experience in weddings celebrated with great fanfare, such as that of Elizabeth Taylor and the millionaire Conrad Hilton in 1950. The luxurious dress, which cost about 60 thousand dollars at that time, it was a gift from Metro Goldwyn Mayer, which involved the work of 36 seamstresses over two months. In the 1950s, the decade in which designer Christian Dior’s style reigned, the designs marked the waist and the skirts were voluminous. Grace Kelly’s had hundreds of hand-sewn pearls and a three-foot train. Her back-buttoned corset had a sweetheart neckline and was lined with another piece of Brussels lace—125 years old—with a high collar, elegant long buttoning, and long fitted sleeves. The bride did not wear a tiara. She wore in her place a small cap with pearl appliqués and some delicate orange blossoms to which the veil was attached.
Instead of a large bouquet, the American princess carried a Bible decorated with lace and pearls along with a bouquet of lilies of the valley. Lastly, the details of her shoes. The princess was tall, she was 1.69 and the prince was not much taller, so she wore low-heeled, lace-lined shoes from a prestigious English shoemaker David Evins, which had her name engraved on the left shoe and his. , in the right. Likewise, she carried a copper penny under her right insole, which was used as a lucky charm. A wish that could not have a storybook ending, taking into account the tragedies that marked the Grimaldi family, beginning with the early death of the princess herself, on September 13, 1982, at the age of 52 as a result of the accident with her car that overturned on a curve near Monaco. She was traveling with her youngest daughter, Estefanía, who said twenty years later that her mother had confused the brake with the accelerator.
The princess not only wore the most celebrated and copied dress in history, whose model is still valid today, also, like a delicate flower, emanated its own perfume, commissioned from the Creed house by the Prince for her. The exclusive fragrance was called “Fleurissimo” and was developed for use until 1972, when it was launched for sale to the public.
600 guests attended the celebration at the palace. His Hollywood friends were there: Cary Grant, Aga Khan, David Niven, Gloria Swanson, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner. There were more people outside than inside. Some 1,500 photographers and journalists from all over the world tried to get the best photos and statements from celebrities. The reception spared nothing: they ate caviar, cold lobster, salmon and drank a lot of champagne. The seven-tier cake caught everyone’s attention.
In addition to suspicions about the economic interests of the Principality of Monaco, years later another less romantic detail of the marriage was also known: the dowry. The bride’s rich father was forced to shell out the sum of two million dollars, at a time when that custom had fallen into disuse. In addition to that sum, Grace Kelly underwent a fertility study, to check that she was capable of giving him an heir. And in that same study, doctors warned that she was not a virgin. But she had a quick answer: she had had an accident while riding.
At the end of the ceremony, the bride visited the Church of Santa Devota to leave her bouquet and ask for protection for her marriage, according to the tradition of the Monegasque principality. Then a convertible Rolls Royce was waiting for them, a wedding gift from the principality, in which they toured the streets of Monte Carlo, capital of Monaco.
The prince’s friend, Aristotle Onassis, was also at the big celebration and gave them a luxurious yacht, the Deo Juvante IIm, with which the couple went on their honeymoon for seven weeks in the Mediterranean Sea.
When the Prince was asked two months before the wedding about Kelly’s future career, he was blunt: “I think the best thing would be for her not to continue in the movies. I have to live in Monaco and she will have to live with me. She wouldn’t work. She will already have enough to do as a princess, although she will not intervene in the administration of the principality.”
At nine months their first daughter, Carolina, was born. In 1958, Alberto – current sovereign Prince – was born. And in 1965, Estefania. It was never known if she missed her life as an actress in the limelight. Her life was dedicated to Rainier, her children and her small principality – it is the second smallest state in the world (2.02 km2), after the Vatican. The union of her with the Grimaldi family attracted attention to that small jewel of the Mediterranean, which over time managed to become a luxury tourism destination, famous for its Casino, the Monaco Grand Prix automobile race, a port packed with million-dollar yachts and luxury shops at every turn. passed.
