Rainier the third prince of monaco and grace kelly. Gallop across Europe. The wedding and married life of Grace Kelly and Rainier III

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The daughters gave the prince seven grandchildren and granddaughters, but Crown Prince Albert, who was entrusted with the functions of regent due to his father’s illness, remains a bachelor at the age of 47 and is considered one of the most enviable suitors in Europe
Le Figaro

Prince Rainier III of Monaco died this morning after a long illness in a hospital in Monaco. Prince Rainier III of the Grimaldi dynasty, 81, was the oldest European monarch. On March 7, he was admitted to the Cardio-Pulmonary Center of Monaco because of an acute bronchopulmonary infection. .

Subsequently, due to a sharp deterioration in the condition and degradation of the basic functions of the body, the patient was transferred to intensive care, where he spent the rest of his life, reports Sky News.

The monarch of Monaco suffered several heart attacks, he underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. Complications of a cardiological nature gradually provoked disturbances in the bronchopulmonary system, and Rainier III underwent a number of operations on the lungs.

Monaco has already declared 7 days of mourning. State flags are flown at half mast throughout the Principality. It is not yet known on what day the funeral of Prince Rainier will take place.

The Council of the Crown of Monaco, stating "the impossibility of Prince Rainier III fulfilling his high duties," a few days ago appointed his son, 47-year-old Crown Prince Albert, as regent. The Crown Prince received his higher education in the United States in the field of political and economic sciences. He is interested in art, philosophy and psychology. He served in the French Navy.

Prince Albert is an excellent athlete, has a black belt in judo, has previously played at the Olympic Games for the national bobsleigh team, and participated in the Paris-Dakar rally. He is a member of the athletics commission of the International Olympic Committee.

Crown Prince Albert, who is entrusted with the functions of regent, at the age of 47 remains a bachelor and is considered one of the most enviable suitors in Europe. In addition to him, the prince has two more daughters - Princesses Caroline and Stephanie - and several grandchildren. The wife of the ruler of Monaco, Hollywood movie star Grace Kelly, died many years ago in a car accident.

The ruler of Monaco, Prince Rainier III, held many high-profile titles, including Duke of Valentine, Count of Carlade and Baron du Bui.

He was born on May 31, 1923 and at baptism was named Louis-Henri-Maxence-Bertrand Grimaldi. His parents were Princess Charlotte of Monaco and Prince Pierre de Polignac, who had been officially given the title of Grimaldi a few years earlier.

The future ruler of the dwarf principality was educated in Great Britain, Switzerland and France, where he graduated, in particular, from the prestigious "Syans Po" - the Higher School of Political Sciences in Paris.

He ascended the princely throne after his grandfather, Prince Louis II, died on May 9, 1949. Formally, Rainier's mother, Princess Charlotte, was the heir to the title, but she renounced the throne in favor of her son.

In 1956, Prince Rainier married Hollywood movie star Grace Kelly. The couple had three children: Princess Caroline, born in 1957, Crown Prince Albert (1958) and Princess Stephanie (1965).

In 1982, the prince's wife tragically died in a car accident, and Princess Stephanie, who was in the car with her, was seriously injured.

As the tabloid press then wrote, it was Stefania who was driving the car and became the culprit of the disaster, but this version was never officially confirmed.

Currently, Carolina and Stefania, whose turbulent personal lives have been the subject of constant attention from paparazzi photographers for many years, are married, and Stefania is already the fourth time.

The daughters gave the prince seven grandchildren and granddaughters, but Crown Prince Albert, who was entrusted with the functions of regent due to his father’s illness, remains a bachelor at 47 and is considered one of the most enviable suitors in Europe.

The name Rainier III is associated with the economic and tourist prosperity of Monaco. Before him, the main source of income for the dwarf principality was the world-famous casino in Monte Carlo (part of Monaco). It was even rumored that during the Second World War this casino was used by the authorities of Nazi Germany to launder wealth stolen in the occupied territories, and the authorities of Monaco received their percentage from these operations, writes RIA Novosti.

In 1966, the ruler of Monaco bought from the Greek multimillionaire Aristotle Onassis his stake in the Sea Bathing Society, which was the official owner of the casino, and became the majority shareholder, thus strengthening his control over the gaming business.

For all that, Monaco has enjoyed a reputation as a "tax haven" for many years. Only relatively recently, the FATF International Financial Action Group removed the Principality from the "black list" of countries that do not cooperate properly in the fight against money laundering, received in a dubious way.

In addition to the casino, the prince paid much attention to the development of transport networks and housing construction. On the Rock, as Monaco is sometimes called, modern high-rise buildings appeared, in which each square meter costs a lot of money, a new station was built, and a lot of work was done to reconstruct the port. All this activity earned Rainier III the nickname "Prince Builder". The area of ​​​​the dwarf state is only 200 hectares, and the population today is 32 thousand people, of which only 7676 are actually Monegasques, that is, subjects of Monaco.

Monaco was admitted to the UN in 1993 and joined the Council of Europe in 2004. This latest international action was more the merit of Crown Prince Albert than of Rainier III himself, who in recent years experienced serious health problems and transferred part of the management of the principality to his son.

Back in the 1990s, the prince underwent coronary artery bypass surgery, in addition, part of his lung was removed. In the past two years, he has been repeatedly hospitalized due to respiratory diseases, which is why the prince has become much less likely to appear in public.

Remember Andersen's fairy tale? “Once upon a time there was a prince, he wanted to marry a princess, but only a real princess. So he traveled all over the world, looking for such, but everywhere there was something wrong; there were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real, he could not fully recognize this, there was always something wrong with them. Grace Kelly did everything to become the most real princess. It just didn't bring her happiness.

Text: Natalia Turovskaya

The main street of New York on the eve of the new year, 1956, was as noisy and crowded as ever. When, in the midst of the crowd, a short, thick man in an elegant coat suddenly stopped and handed his companion a box with an engagement ring with the words: “Marry me,” hardly anyone paid attention to them. And it would be worth it! After all, this man was none other than the Crown Prince of the Principality of Monaco Rainier III, Duke de Valentinois, Count Carladez, Baron Bui, Sir Matignon, Seigneur Saint-Remy, Count of Torigny, Duke of Mazarin. And his charming chosen one is an American movie star, beautiful blonde Grace Kelly. She answered "Yes!" And only one sad thought tormented the bride: according to the protocol, before the wedding, she had to undergo a medical examination, confirming that the future princess was able to give the throne an heir. But... it will also reveal the fact that Grace is no longer a virgin. In the evening, sharing her doubts on the phone with an old friend and ex-lover Don Richardson, she received good advice: “What's the problem? Say that you once failed a gymnastic exercise at school. Grace did just that. And the prince believed her. However, it could not be otherwise - Grace from a young age knew how to make the best impression. Although in fact she was from the breed of women, about whom it is customary to say: "devils live in a still pool" ...

"Snowy Volcano"

“She is like a volcano under the snow,” director Alfred Hitchcock said about Grace Kelly. “Behind her coldness lies an unimaginable heat of passion.” A femme fatale is usually represented as a burning brunette or a red-haired beast, but by no means a fragile blonde with the face of an angel. Touching and naive, Grace only seemed outwardly. Inside, she was a passionate, hot woman, looking for love and adventure. Her first lover was acting teacher at the American Academy of Dramatic Art Don Richardson. He was much older than the girl and for a long time could not decide to explain himself - she seemed so pure to him. And when he nevertheless ventured to invite the beauty to visit, he was quite surprised by her emancipation. “I lit the fire,” Richardson later recalled, “and went to make coffee. When I came back, I saw that Grace was already waiting for me on the bed. She took off all her clothes… I have never seen anything more beautiful!”

Grace Kelly was a girl, as they say, without complexes. Although she was raised in a Puritan family with strict rules. But she longed to escape from parental care and quickly appreciated the beauty of an independent life when she left home. Natural external data helped her quickly find a job as a fashion model. Shooting for the covers of Redbook and Cosmopolitan magazines, Grace not only supported herself, but also sent home hefty sums. “If the story of my real life is ever told, people will understand that I was a living being and not a fairy tale character,” she would write much later. And wrong.

Grace Kelly is the only Hollywood actress who wore white gloves so naturally and gracefully. Even alone with herself, she remained unfailingly glamorous and elegant.

Tommy Hilfiger

The model with refined features and a marvelous figure was immediately noticed in Hollywood. In 1952, she co-starred with Fred Zinnemann in the western High Noon, paired with Harry Cooper himself. And in 1953, John Ford offered her a role in the film Mogambo, where Clark Gable and Ava Gardner became her partners. A year later, she already received her first Oscar for the painting "Country Girl" and knew her worth. When the host of the ceremony invited Grace to kiss Marlon Brando, who won the Best Actor nomination, she innocently retorted: “I think he should kiss me” ... With a height of 176 cm, Grace weighed 58 kg, had a chest volume of 88 cm, hips - 89, and a waist - 60. She had a wonderful porcelain skin tone, high cheekbones, a sensual mouth and amazing eyes the color of Parma violet. Add to this an innate sense of style: she was surprisingly dressed in pastel colors and wide-brimmed hats. A string of pearls and a Hermes scarf completed the look, as well as massive sunglasses that were then fashionable. Why not a princess? There was only one thing left to do: find your prince.

Looking for a prince

Of course, like many girls, Grace dreamed of meeting a noble prince on a white horse one day, but she could not even imagine that in her case the dream would come true so literally! She was amorous and more than once tried to get married, but it seems that fate itself kept the girl from this step, as if saying: “Do not rush, your happiness is yet to come!” At first, Grace dreamed of connecting her life with the famous fashion designer Oleg Cassini, but her parents were categorically against it: he was older, and also divorced. In 1949, Kelly had a hot affair with the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. He proposed to her, Grace agreed again, but then, reasonably judging that the shah could have two or three wives, she took her word back. However, the expensive gifts of the "groom" - a gold cosmetic bag adorned with diamonds, a gold bracelet with a watch and a gold brooch in the form of a bird in a cage with diamond wings and sapphire eyes - were left as a keepsake ... The next lover was Clark Gable, the same Rhett Butler from "Gone with the Wind". He was twenty-eight years older than Grace, married four times, so he himself decided "not to complicate the girl's life."

In 1955, Grace Kelly led the Hollywood delegation to the Cannes Film Festival. The program of the visit also included a meeting with Prince Rainier III of Monaco at his personal residence. This idea belonged to the Paris Match photographer Pierre Galant, who longed to take an exclusive photo for the cover of the magazine. The idea did not arouse the enthusiasm of either the prince or Grace Kelly. But both were people of action, so the meeting took place. This fateful day began for Grace very unsuccessfully: due to a trade union strike, the electricity was cut off throughout the city, and her hair, which did not have time to dry after washing, she had to curl up at the back of her head with a simple bun. And instead of the prepared elegant outfit, put on - oh horror! - the only thing that did not require ironing: a simple black dress with a large rose. Since it was etiquette to arrive at the palace wearing a hat, and Grace did not have one with her, she made a wreath of artificial flowers and pinned it to her hair. On the way out of the hotel, her car collided with another, and although no one was hurt, Grace considered this a bad omen ... Prince Rainier also spent the morning not in the best way: because of the same strike, he was pretty late for a meeting with the actress and therefore was not in spirit. Entering the hall, he found a Hollywood movie star practicing curtseying in front of a mirror. Such immediacy instantly dispelled the bad mood of the 32-year-old prince. The "heavenly creature" enchanted His Grace, and after this meeting, a lively correspondence began between them in the most romantic style. Grace was flattered by the attention, and besides, the new admirer was not only good-looking, but witty and extraordinarily gallant. Already at Christmas, he arrived in Philadelphia to Kelly's parents and officially announced that he "finally found his princess!"

Small kingdom for big love

In the 1920s, the famous writer Somerset Maugham wittily called Monte Carlo "a sunny place for dark personalities." Grace Kelly was not afraid. On the contrary, the small "state within the state", in which she was to ascend the throne, seemed to the actress a paradise on earth.

Stepping on board the ocean liner "Constitution" in the company of a personal hairdresser from her native studio "Metropolitan-Goldwyn-Mayer", her beloved poodle Oliver and her five girlfriends, who were to become the bride's witnesses at the wedding, Grace was unusually happy. She wore a long, elegant coat of dark silk, and a round white hat of starched muslin, which gave her face an air of charming mystery. The future husband arrived at the pier to meet his bride in full dress uniform, and when they finally joined hands, a rain of red and white carnations fell from the plane over their heads - a gift from a friend of the royal family, millionaire Aristotle Onassis. A week later, a magnificent wedding took place, after which Grace gave her friends gifts from the sheikh: the same golden cosmetic bag, watch and brooch. The past was over. From that moment on, Grace Kelly began a completely different life, which can be described in one phrase: noblesse oblige, which means “position obliges” in French.

The appearance of a Hollywood movie star in Monaco as a princess influenced the financial situation of the principality in the most positive way. A flood of wealthy tourists from Europe poured into the country. Grace is actively involved in charity work. Already in the winter of 1956, she organized a Christmas tree in the palace for the children of the principality from three to twelve years old. This won the hearts of the locals so much that it immediately became an annual tradition.

In 1957, their daughter Caroline Marguerite Louise was born with Prince Rainier, and a year later, the long-awaited heir to the throne, little Albert II, appeared. The citizens of Monaco idolized their princess: she was young, beautiful, and during the holidays, any person from the crowd could shake her hand.

After the birth of Grace's youngest daughter Stephanie in 1965, the uncrowned "king of horror" Alfred Hitchcock, in whom Grace played her best roles, unexpectedly invited the actress-princess to his new picture. Kelly really wanted to return to the cinema and work with his favorite director, but the principality's public literally reared up from such a "frivolous undertaking." And Grace resigned herself, deciding to devote herself completely to her husband and children. In the press, she commented on her decision as follows: “You see, actors in the United States can separate their public, public life and personal life. Here in Monaco, as the wife of Prince Rainier, I can only play one role... To be his princess.”

How do fairy tales end?

Alas, it is only in books that good princes promise that after the wedding “you will have everything you want, and we will live with you so friendly and fun that your soul will never know tears and sadness.” In real life, everything is much more prosaic. Even real princesses. Very soon, Grace Kelly realized that her husband, despite the royal title, was endowed with the same shortcomings as most ordinary men.

Rainier turned out to be a quick-tempered, unsociable recluse, so unlike the gallant gentleman who bombarded Grace with love letters. He did not like social life, preferring communication with animals, for which the palace had a private zoo. He went to bed early and spoke little, while Grace just before going to bed wanted to chat with her husband. Trying to find something to do, Grace became interested in creating paintings from dried wild flowers. The princess was offered to arrange a charity exhibition of her work, and it was a huge success. This little luck alienated the spouses even more: Renier was jealous of his wife for her ability to win over people. His Highness repeatedly ridiculed and humiliated Grace in public. The princess often began to leave her husband’s office in tears, while he furiously beat the dishes outside the door, once again “offended” by his wife for something ... “Any man, and not just an actor, can hardly become a good husband,” Grace confides her disappointment to the diary.

And after 40 years, a new trouble was added to Grace's frequent depressions: she began to inexorably gain weight. The children grew up and also rarely pleased their mother: the unsuccessful romance of the eldest daughter Carolina was on everyone's lips, the son Albert was only interested in sports and women, and not state affairs, and the youngest Stephanie grew up as a “difficult teenager” at all, rode a motorcycle with the son of an actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and sang cheap pop hits. The family for which Grace sacrificed a stellar film career was not her reliable rear. Each lived his own life, little regard for the interests of others. The princess now dreamed of only one thing: to escape from the golden cage to freedom.

What does a desperate woman do, surrounded by the indifference of family members, bound by the rituals and protocol of the palace? Takes on a lover. And Grace tried to save herself from loneliness, changing like the gloves of young lovers, "teddy boys", as she herself called them. First it was the 30-year-old documentary filmmaker Robert Dornhelm, then the 29-year-old American businessman Jeffrey Fitzgerald... She dreamed of returning to her former life, to the acting profession, she even began to read poetry from the stage, taking part in poetry festivals throughout Europe . Grace thought that she could create her own drama theater in Monaco, where the best foreign actors would play, but these plans were not destined to come true.

On the road to heaven...

On a clear September morning in 1982, Grace Kelly and her youngest daughter Stephanie were about to go for a car ride. Her personal chauffeur was respectfully waiting for both ladies at a polished 1972 Rover-3500, when the princess, always superstitiously afraid of cars, suddenly announced decisively: “Thank you, but I’ll drive myself: I need to have a serious talk with my daughter in private.” .

What they were talking about, we will never know, because ten minutes later the royal "rover" fell into the abyss at great speed. Princess Stephanie escaped with a slight fright, and the Princess of Monaco was taken to the hospital unconscious with a severe head injury. She had no chance to survive, and the next day, with the permission of her family, she was disconnected from the artificial respiration system ...

Prince Rainier III outlived his wife by more than twenty years and never remarried. “With the death of the princess,” he said, “emptiness entered my life.” After Grace's death, her subjects fell in love with her even more than during her lifetime, and almost elevated her to the status of a saint. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of her death, the government of Monaco issued a series of 2 euro coins with a portrait of the princess on the reverse. She is depicted with her trademark hairstyle - curled hair laid at the back of her head - and her favorite earrings with large pearls. Frank Sinatra once said of Grace: "She was a real princess from the day she was born." Perhaps the old heartthrob was right. But... even if SUCH Grace Kelly did not exist, it would be worth inventing it as a consolation to millions of Cinderellas around the world who dream of marrying the prince, even "if they are a little over thirty."

PARIS, April 6 - RIA Novosti, Andrey Nizamutdinov. The ruler of Monaco, Prince Rainier III, who died on Wednesday (he was the owner of many high-profile titles, including the Duke of Valantine, Count of Carlade and Baron du Bui), was born on May 31, 1923 and was named Louis-Henri-Maxens-Bertrand Grimaldi at baptism. His parents were Princess Charlotte of Monaco and Prince Pierre de Polignac, who had been officially given the title of Grimaldi a few years earlier.

The future ruler of the dwarf principality was educated in Great Britain, Switzerland and France, where he graduated, in particular, from the prestigious "Syans Po" - the Higher School of Political Sciences in Paris.

In September 1944, Prince Rainier entered the service of the French army as an officer and took part in the military campaign against Nazi Germany in Alsace.

He ascended the princely throne after his grandfather, Prince Louis II, died on May 9, 1949. Formally, Rainier's mother, Princess Charlotte, was the heir to the title, but she relinquished the reins of power in favor of her son.

In 1956, Prince Rainier married Hollywood movie star Grace Kelly. The couple had three children: Princess Caroline, born in 1957, Crown Prince Albert (1958) and Princess Stephanie (1965).

In 1982, the prince's wife tragically died in a car accident, and Princess Stephanie, who was in the car with her, was seriously injured. As the tabloid press then wrote, it was Stefania who was driving the car and became the culprit of the disaster, but this version was never officially confirmed.

Karolina and Stefania, whose turbulent personal lives have been the subject of constant attention from paparazzi photographers for many years, are now married, and Stefania is already the fourth time. The daughters gave the prince seven grandchildren and granddaughters, but Crown Prince Albert, who was entrusted with the functions of regent due to his father’s illness, remains a bachelor at 47 and is considered one of the most enviable suitors in Europe.

The name Rainier III is associated with the economic and tourist prosperity of Monaco. Before him, the main source of income for the dwarf principality was the world-famous casino in Monte Carlo (part of Monaco). It was even rumored that during the Second World War this casino was used by the authorities of Nazi Germany to launder wealth stolen in the occupied territories, and the authorities of Monaco received their percentage from these operations.

In 1966, the ruler of Monaco bought from the Greek multimillionaire Aristotle Onassis his stake in the Sea Bathing Society, which was the official owner of the casino, and became the majority shareholder, thus strengthening his control over the gaming business.

For all that, Monaco has enjoyed a reputation as a "tax haven" for many years. Only relatively recently, the FATF International Financial Action Group removed the Principality from the "black list" of countries that do not cooperate properly in the fight against money laundering, received in a dubious way.

In addition to the casino, the prince paid much attention to the development of transport networks and housing construction. On the Rock, as Monaco is sometimes called, modern multi-storey buildings appeared, where each square meter costs crazy money, a new railway station was built, and a lot of work was done to reconstruct the port. All this activity earned Rainier III the nickname "Prince Builder".

The area of ​​​​the dwarf state is only 200 hectares, and the population today is 32 thousand people, of which only 7.676 are actually Monegasques, that is, subjects of Monaco.

Monaco was admitted to the UN in 1993 and joined the Council of Europe in 2004. This latest international action was more the merit of Crown Prince Albert than of Rainier III himself, who in recent years experienced serious health problems and transferred part of the management of the principality to his son.

Back in the 1990s, the prince underwent coronary artery bypass surgery, in addition, part of his lung was removed. In the past two years, he was repeatedly hospitalized due to respiratory diseases, because of which the prince became much less likely to stay in public.

All this did not prevent the sovereign from maintaining his love for the circus (he even founded an international circus festival in the principality) and football. Until recently, Rainier III personally patronized the Monaco football club. It was allegedly he who, in December 2003, prevented the Russian company Fedkominvest from becoming the main sponsor of this club, considering that the company did not provide adequate financial guarantees.

In the fairy tale about Cinderella, in any of its variations, the prince is assigned a secondary role. His main advantage is that he is a prince. Yes, he loved Cinderella. But I would try not to fall in love with such a kind, beautiful, hardworking girl who went to her happiness through suffering and trials! The prince himself is not very interesting to the public, he is only a necessary attribute for the happiness of the main character.

Hollywood star Grace Kelly, who became the Princess of Monaco, is the main Cinderella of the 20th century. Her husband, Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, better known as Prince Rainier III, experienced the hard way what it was like to be a minor character.

Born to Order

He was born in Monaco on May 31, 1923. The principality at that time was ruled by his grandfather, Louis II. It is curious that the grandfather, like Louis II from Alla Pugacheva's song, had problems with the opportunity to marry for love. As heir to the throne, Louis fell in love with a cabaret singer. Not only is the profession Marie Juliette Louvet was unsuitable, as she was also a "divorcee" with two children.

The result of the stormy romance of Louis and Marie was the birth Charlotte's daughters. But the courage of the heir to the throne was not enough: he left his mistress and daughter, fearing that for his adventures he would be deprived of the rights to the throne.

But fate played a cruel joke with him: the fact is that Louis desperately needed an heir. According to the agreement with France, in the event of the suppression of the princely dynasty, Monaco was to come under the rule of Paris.

Father told Louis: if there is no heir (or at least an heiress), then you will not receive the throne. Cornered Louis remembered the illegitimate daughter, who by that time was already 20 years old. Charlotte was granted the title of Duchess Valentinois and urgently began to look for a suitable groom. The choice fell on Pierre de Polignac, the son of a French count and a hot Mexican. The wedding took place in March 1920, and soon the couple had their first child. To the disappointment of Louis and all the inhabitants of Monaco, it was a girl. But the whole combination was conceived in the name of the boy!

Pierre and Charlotte had to try hard, and in May 1923 they gave birth to Louis-Henri-Maxens-Bertrand ... In general, the future Rainier III.

Raising an Ideal Prince

Rainier's mother Charlotte did not dream of a crown, and she was not happy with her husband either. Being formally the heir to the throne, she was relieved to renounce her rights to it on the day when her son turned 21 years old. When Renier ascended the throne, she left Monaco, spending the last three decades of her life in Paris.

Rainier was born as a result of such complex combinations that he had a little less chance of being an ordinary child. Monaco wanted a well-trained prince with excellent education, good manners and high moral principles.

He studied in the UK, then at the private school Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland and at the Higher School of Political Science in France.

In September 1944, 21-year-old Renier joined the French army as an officer and took part in the military campaign against Nazi Germany in Alsace.

In May 1949, Louis II died, and his grandson ascended the throne under the name of Prince Rainier III.

In love at will

Monaco didn't even come close to being the billionaire's paradise it's now known to be. The young prince faced a difficult task: to make sure that the state stood firmly on its feet. But there was no oil and other minerals in the tiny territory, and the situation with sights was also not very good. Aristotle Onassis, a friend of the prince and a billionaire, was convinced that Rainier could turn the principality by the sea into a world pearl. To do this, you just need to attract the attention of the world. When the prince asked how to do this, Aristotle said thoughtfully:

- Best of all, of course, a princely wedding. To be the bride of some world movie star. Marilyn Monroe, for example, or Grace Kelly.

Renee just chuckled. But stupid people don't become billionaires.

In 1955, during the Cannes Film Festival, a meeting was organized between Grace Kelly and Rainier III. Apparently, they were brought together by the agents of the actress and the officials of the prince, who needed the event, so to speak, “for show”. Both were late and were extremely annoyed. Grace's hotel power went out while she was drying her hair. As a result, she appeared at the meeting with the Lord of Monaco in a rumpled dress and with a bun on her head. Rainier, who had a busy day with a bunch of activities, dreamed of only one thing: to exchange courtesies with the lady on duty and go to bed.

He saw her a little earlier than she expected. Grace, like an exemplary schoolgirl, rehearsed in front of the mirror the courteous bow that should have greeted the prince. Renier smiled and felt sympathy for this pretty blonde.

Then there was a conversation during which they surprised each other. Grace discovered that the prince was actually an attractive young man, calm, reasonable, self-confident and well versed in films. Rainier, in turn, realized that a movie star is not a “dummy”, but an educated person with a broad outlook.

Grace Kelly and Rainier III. 1956 Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Virginity test

Correspondence began, and with each new letter, Renier realized that he was increasingly drawn to Grace. Talk about her numerous novels did not bother the prince. After all, his own mother was illegitimate, so it was foolish to put on a pose of offended innocence. In addition, he remembered the words of his friend Onassis and realized that there was a great chance to combine personal and public.

December 25, 1955 three-time Olympian and millionaire American industrialist Jack Kelly hosted the Prince of Monaco in his house. The legend says that Jack, who rose from the very bottom, did not figure out who was in front of him, deciding that Rainier was the prince of Morocco. Even so, the lord of Monaco was not offended and carried out what he came for, officially making an offer to Grace. The movie star agreed.

Yes, Rainier III married a very conditional Cinderella. The dowry of the bride, allocated by her parents, was 2 million dollars: they don’t write about this in fairy tales. Jack Kelly and his wife, at the expense of their daughter's marriage, received a pass to high society, where they, the descendants of Irish immigrants, had not been favored before.

From that moment on, Rainier III will become a villain for many, imprisoning the beautiful Grace Kelly in a “golden cage”. And the bars of this cage for the first time hurt the girl on the eve of the wedding. The rules required the bride to undergo a medical examination for the ability to give birth to offspring, as well as, excuse me, a virginity test.

With the first, everything turned out to be in order, but about the second, Renier was well aware even without examination. For him, this procedure was a pure formality, but Grace experienced not the most pleasant moments.

Wedding of Rainier III and Grace Kelly. Photo: Youtube frame.

Ah, this wedding, wedding...

Everything was smoothed out by a luxurious wedding, which was played in April 1956. Perhaps it was the most magnificent celebration in Europe in the 20th century. One bride's dress took one hundred meters of old lace, which, by order of Renier, was bought from the storerooms of the French Museum. Events began a few days before the wedding itself. During the meeting on the pier, where Grace got off the ocean liner, red and white carnations fell from the sky on the bride and groom: this was the work of the restless Aristotle Onassis.

Thousands of guests were invited to the wedding: members of royal families, millionaires, Hollywood stars and producers, politicians...

The marriage became one big worldwide advertisement for Monaco. Aristotle Onassis gave the young a luxurious yacht, on which they went on their honeymoon trip.

What is written in fairy tales in this place? "They lived happily ever after and died on the same day." Wise authors don't specify exactly what a "happily ever after" looks like.

Rainier III entered the history of Monaco as the "prince-builder". The new station, the restoration of the old port, the construction of a new quarter of Fontvieille, for which, with the help of bulk soil, the territory of the principality was increased by 22 hectares, and much more.

Tourists and the rich sought to look at the state, where the princess was "Cinderella from Hollywood", and Rainier III created comfortable conditions for them.

If Grace paid for her marriage with her career, then her desire for privacy cost her her life. Wanting to have a one-on-one conversation with her youngest daughter Stephanie, who refused to study to be a fashion designer because she was going to learn to drive race cars with her son Belmondo, Grace did what she usually did not do: she got behind the wheel of a car. The end of this trip was tragic.

Happy together

The principality flourished, and Rainier was happy. And Grace?

At first, definitely. She liked to play the role of a princess, participate in events in this role, and do charity work.

The people of Monaco loved her, although she made them nervous. The first child of the couple in 1957 was a girl who was named Carolina. But Renier reassured the people: they say, do not worry, there will be a boy. And when in 1958 was born Prince Albert, the Monegasques began to idolize Princess Grace.

But still they were too different. Calm and balanced, Rainier preferred home silence, while Grace's temperament demanded a heat of emotions. And what, tell me, can there be emotions in family life, if the husband's main hobby is collecting stamps?

Rainier was indeed an avid philatelist and in his later years even became an honorary member of the European Academy of Philately. But Grace, over time, could no longer see how her husband, instead of devoting time to her and the children, was fiddling with pieces of paper.

In 1965, a second daughter was born, who was named Stephanie.

Offers came from Hollywood to resume her acting career, but in Monaco they believed that their princess should not appear on the screen if it was not a protocol shooting.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Big kids are big bugs

Renier behaved like a classic husband. He believed that the duties of a princess and the upbringing of three children could not leave time for something else.

And raising children was difficult. Grace honestly tried to raise classic princes and princesses, but Albert and the sisters grew up as rebels. The easiest way to say that mother's genes are to blame. But have we not forgotten about Louis II and his illegitimate daughter?

The eldest daughter Carolina, a lover of equestrian sports and skiing, at the age of 20 married a Parisian banker with a scandal, divorced two years later and went into all serious trouble, changing lovers like gloves. Albert, heir to the throne, kicked a soccer ball, tried his hand at judo and bobsleigh and did not miss a single girl who longed to share a bed with a prince.

Stephanie, the youngest, was too young for lovemaking, but she walked around exclusively in jeans and scared respectable Monegasques, rushing through the streets of the principality on a motorcycle.

Renier was convinced that this whole nightmare was the result of insufficient control on the part of the mother. Grace, tired of all this, began to spend a lot of time away from her husband, in Paris, appearing only at mandatory official events. The prince was quite happy with this. Their marriage has passed for a quarter of a century, and he perceived such cooling calmly. The main thing is that this did not affect the affairs of the principality.

Catastrophe

On September 13, 1982, the 1980 Rover SD1 (3500V8) that Grace and Stephanie were driving lost control, veered off a sharp curve, and crashed into a mountainside.

Stephanie's condition did not cause concern, but rescuers removed Grace unconscious and with serious injuries. On September 14, she died in a hospital in Monaco.

The broadcast of her funeral was watched by 100 million viewers. The funeral ceremony, which brought together movie stars, politicians and members of the royal families, again drew world attention to Monaco.

Rene was scary to look at. “With the death of the princess, emptiness entered my life,” he would later say. Always cheerful and energetic, he aged in a few days.

Only in fairy tales can a prince revive his beloved with a kiss of love. Even the greatest miracle could not return Grace.

Rainier III, Albert, Caroline, Stephanie, Nancy Reagan and Robert Adams at the launch of a monument to Princess Grace at the National Portrait Gallery in October 1986. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

twenty years of solitude

“I am destined to outlive you and yearn forever,” said the Wizard from “Ordinary Miracle” to his wife.

Rainier III outlived his wife by 22 and a half years. When she died, he was not even 60. But neither new novels, nor - even more so - a second marriage in the life of the Prince of Monaco did not happen. He remained faithful to the one who in the last years of his life doubted his feelings.

Renier left the children alone, despite the fact that their personal lives went topsy-turvy. Only Alberta asked to finally get a family, so as not to arrange a dynastic crisis. When he realized that his son could not be persuaded, he decided that the matter would somehow be settled. In the end, the eldest daughter Carolina pleased her father with her grandchildren back in the eighties.

In the nineties, Rainier began to have serious health problems, and he was even a little glad about it. Illness kept him less likely to attend the obligatory events he had cooled off after Grace's death. Gradually, he began to transfer responsibilities for public administration to Albert.

Rainier III died on April 6, 2005, having found peace next to his beloved wife. His dreams of transforming the principality came true, but they would hardly have come true without the one who is considered "the main Cinderella of the 20th century."