Grace
Page 24
At 10:30 a.m., John B. Kelly led his daughter Grace up the steps of St. Nicholas and down the nave to the high altar. Here, the Bishop of Monaco, Monsignore Gilles Barthe, the Kelly family’s priest, Father Cartin from Philadelphia, and Father Francis Tucker waited for the couple. Then, several minutes later, the prince entered the sacred white building, as was the custom.
Grace’s wedding gown was designed by Helen Rose and was given as a gift by MGM. It became a much-copied gown, and it was made of 30 yards of tulle and 290 yards of Valenciennes lace. The dress was covered in pearls. It had a stand-up collar, long sleeves, a long skirt, and a three-yard train. Grace carried a small bridal bouquet of lily of the valley, as well as a little Bible that was covered in the same material as her gown.
In Monaco’s cathedral behind the altar, hidden by bouquets and shrubbery, and in the upper areas of the side aisles, eleven television cameras were mounted. Three of them belonged to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, four of them to various television stations, and the other four were filming for weekly news coverage. In addition, several microphones were set up directly on the altar. Everything was to be well-recorded both visually and audibly. The MGM cameras, for the documentary film Le Marriage à Monaco, as well as the television cameras, were broadcasting live—a true technical wonder for this time. The wedding between Grace and Rainier was watched by about 30 million people in about a dozen countries. Excluding the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II of England on June 2, 1953, this was the largest television viewing audience ever. For this era, this was a gigantic media spectacle. A mass event. Never before were running cameras allowed to be so close to a church wedding of European royalty. This was also the first time that cameras were allowed to film from the perspective of the priest. From time to time, Grace’s and Rainier’s faces were shot as intimate close-ups during the ceremony. Every movement of their faces could be seen. No moment remained hidden; no moments of privacy were allowed. Everything was public, everything was aired, everything had already been sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the French television stations, and TMC. As friend Rita Gam recalled, “The wedding in Monaco was a very special experience. I am not sure if you absolutely have to do something like this in your life, but for Grace and her guests it was something exceptional. An enormous tension dominated because something very private was suddenly a worldwide media event.”295
At a later date, Grace commented that both she and Rainier had found the day to be rather awful. They had only registered some of the aspects of the day, and everything seemed muffled and distant, as if they were wrapped in cotton. “The whole thing was a nightmare.”296 And during a 1985 interview on the Today Show, daughter Caroline confirmed that “my parents found their wedding to be atrocious.”297
A luncheon followed the church wedding at 1:00 p.m. The palace’s inner courtyard was set up for about 700 wedding guests. These included Grace’s good friend and actor David Niven and his wife; Aristotle Onassis and his wife Athina; Gloria Swanson and Ava Gardner (who came without her estranged husband Frank Sinatra); and press agent and journalist Rupert Allan from Los Angeles.
On that same afternoon, the newly married couple departed for their honeymoon along with poodle Oliver. They took a seven-week cruise across the Mediterranean. It was the first time ever that Grace and Rainier had spent time together unobserved and alone, the first time that they had experienced each other just as a couple. The young couple went first to Mallorca and Ibiza. The second part of the cruise skirted the coast of Spain. Grace and Rainier spent day after day on land, visiting Valencia, Madrid, Granada, and Málaga. During this honeymoon at sea, Grace became pregnant for the first time. Finally, on June 6, the Deo Jovante II returned to the harbor of Monaco.
Friend Rita Gam described Grace’s feelings at this time: “I don’t think Grace really believed that she was going to give up acting when she became Princess Grace of Monaco. I think that the reality of that probably struck her somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean after the honeymoon began.”298 One can then suppose that the offer from MGM’s Dore Schary shortly after her wedding was all the more sobering, perhaps even bitter. He asked her to star alongside James Stewart in the upcoming film Designing Women (1957). However, she was not allowed to take on any new film projects. The prince had strictly forbidden this. Instead of being a second opportunity for Grace and Stewart to appear before the cameras after Rear Window, ultimately Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck would star in this marital comedy directed by Vincente Minnelli.
“I became a Princess before I had much time to think about it,” Grace once said about herself.299 Interestingly, her husband, Prince Rainier, was sitting right next to her when she revealed this.
The question of “Why?” has come up time and time again in the search for the reasons, from both sides, that led to the so-called wedding of the century. For Rainier, the answering of this question was somewhat simpler than it was for Grace. Rainier was searching for a future Princess of Monaco, and he became taken with Grace’s charm and personality. Furthermore, she was Catholic and had been strictly and well raised. “She was an absolute enchantment,” asserted Thomas Veszilits.300
When once asked to describe the start of things between him and Grace, Prince Rainier claimed: “I do not believe in love-at-first-sight, which is a wishy-washy term I never use.”301
“Rainier was not a man of the arts.”302 He was a pragmatist with an interest in sports, cars, and the animals in his palace zoo. She was a sensitive soul who loved everything in the realms of culture and the arts. Two polar opposites. These poles helped to expand one another, but also resulted in mutual conflicts. Frequently over the years, misunderstandings of each other dominated. They could not relate to the other’s world. According to Robert Dornhelm, in subjectively describing the couple’s relationship, Rainier “was sometimes quite harsh. In reality, he caused embarrassment and irritation through his indifference and his lack of consideration.”303 In 1974, Grace herself expressed that while they did not have a lot in common, their shared Catholic faith united them deeply.304
Robert Dornhelm described the situation in more detail: “Rainier was sometimes in a good mood, sometimes in a bad mood—Grace and Rainier were certainly not very compatible. However, for Monte Carlo this was a huge win: tourism, the casino, the influx of money—she brought Monaco a high level of prestige. Through her charm, she definitely did much good for the country. Again and again, it was in all the newspapers. Suddenly, everyone started coming to Monte Carlo again. The casino was full again, and the real estate properties again became expensive.”305
As publicist Thomas Veszelits recalled: “At that time, in the early 1970s, Monaco was not yet over-touristed or extremely exclusive. You had a pretty good chance of seeing Grace Kelly meeting someone at the Hôtel de Paris. It was like her second office. She was very, very present. Of course, Grace Kelly was a workaholic, but she liked the American element that could be met in the bar of the Hôtel de Paris. She really enjoyed the hotel and the intimate atmosphere there. She did not look like she did in the films. On the street, you almost might have failed to recognize her. Naturally, she was very elegant but in public she dressed completely normally. She was a lady, but not like Sophia Loren or Claudia Cardinale, whom one could not fail to recognize.”306
Veszelits went on to describe the various activities that Grace took on as princess: “Grace Kelly lived Monaco. She was a part of Monaco. She was unimaginably disciplined, one of her completely American attributes. Until midnight, she controlled all of the invitations, whether or not they went out with the mail the following day. She managed the office. She also organized all of the balls. She herself established one ball, the Rose Ball. The Red Cross Ball was already a Monegasque tradition, reaching back to the ancestors in the late 1800s. Then, all of the foundations. She created a very important foundation for the natural feeding of babies: La Leche League—emphasizing breastfeeding and the importance of mother’s milk. She became seriously involved with this endeavor and argued
that it was wrong to feed babies with artificial foods. Babies must be nourished on their mothers’ milk. She must have had an extraordinary reserve of energy. At that time, she took on at least ten or twelve foundations, and on top of that, there were the building organizations.”307 Above all, Grace’s extensive charitable and social engagement was extended through her “Le Fondation Princess Grace,” which was established in 1964. Since 1983, Princess Caroline has been the patroness of this foundation.
“It was her kindness. She always wanted to make sure that no one got taken advantage of . . .”308 This is what Nadia Lacoste remembered about Princess Grace. Born in Romania in the 1920s, Nadia Lacoste first came in contact with the American film industry in the 1940s. After they experienced the terror of the approaching German invasion of Paris, Nadia and her parents had fled Europe. She worked in various studio departments, including the script department where workers cut out countless newspaper articles every day, searching for material that could inspire movie magic. Then, she returned to Paris where she opened an office whose work was unprecedented: she helped build contacts through her knowledge of the major studios in Los Angeles and the press circles of the French metropolis.
Nadia LaCoste and Rupert Allan had known each other in Hollywood. He had been involved in so many aspects of Grace’s career, and through him, a connection developed between the Monegasque royal house and the multilingual press journalist.
“I met many of the older actors and her costars. We always met at Rupert Allan’s house. He was engaged as the Monegasque general consul and PR man in Los Angeles. There Grace always kept a list—who was still alive and who might like to come to Monaco,” Robert Dornhelm explained about Rupert Allan.309
After the wedding of Grace and Prince Rainier, to which he had been invited by Grace, Rupert Allan called Nadia LaCoste in Paris: “They need you here, absolutely. No one can speak English.” And then: “You must first meet Prince Rainier. He is coming to Paris, presumably with Grace. You must speak with him.”310
And Prince Rainier came to Paris in the fall of 1956, and Nadia LaCoste met her future, longtime employer for the first time. Rainier hired her on the spot. Her position was unprecedented in Monaco: she would be head of a new press office founded specifically for the royal palace. For a while, she traveled between Paris and Monaco, since she preferred to live in Paris. However, the new press office had to be located in Monaco, even if there was no actual press there. The entire press, both national and international, was located in Paris. Monsieur Olivier of the Monegasque tourism information office was still in charge of all the press contacts. This situation needed to be changed. Thus, Nadia LaCoste moved to Monaco.
Starting in the late fall of 1956 and continuing for several decades, she managed the country’s press needs and therefore, held a powerful, central position. There was little in or around Monaco that escaped Nadia LaCoste’s awareness. She was one of the most competent and discreet palace insiders. Her son, Thierry LaCoste, now an attorney, grew up with Prince Albert in Monaco. Both boys were the same age. It was Nadia LaCoste who had to provide adequate information to the international press about Princess Grace’s tragic accident in mid-September 1982.
Nadia LaCoste further remembered: “At the beginning, I met both of them when they were here in Paris. And they often came here. They frequently spent the months of September and October in Paris. They had many friends here, they went to the theater. I met the Princess, and immediately we realized that we had many friends in common. All of the film stars, whom she knew, I knew as well. That quickly linked us . . .”311
And in terms of Grace’s slow acclimation to her role and her place in everyday Monegasque society: “At first, Grace simply tried to find a place for herself in Monaco and to do something for Monaco. However, the children also arrived immediately.”312
Publicist Rolf Palm explained the early difficulties with the lack of amenities in the royal palace: “At first, Grace Kelly had mineral water shipped from America. And the castle was still fairly shabby. At the time that Grace came to live in the castle, it in no way resembled the level of comfort enjoyed by wealthy Americans. There was much she had to get used to, to learn.”313
On January 23, 1957, almost exactly nine months after the wedding, Princess Caroline was born at 9:27 a.m. Like both of her other children, Grace gave birth to Caroline in the palace, not in a hospital. The cannon fired a twenty-one gun salute, and every Monegasque knew that Princess Gracia had had a daughter.
On March 14, 1958, only fourteen months after firstborn Caroline’s birth, Grace gave birth to the long-awaited male heir, Prince Albert. This time, the cannon fired 101 salutes. Monaco now had its successor.
The birth of Princess Stéphanie fell on February 1, 1965. This was Grace and Rainier’s third and final child.
“I think the easier thing came when she had the children. And they did come very quickly. She wanted the children and she loved them. And we had so much fun rough-housing together. Her children and my children are the same age. And they’ve gone to camp together. Don [LeVine] and I have been over to Monaco several times with the children and they’ve come here to Ocean City,” related Grace’s younger sister, Lizanne Kelly LeVine.314
Nadia LaCoste described this similarly: “By all means, Princess Grace was family oriented. Her sisters came, her brother, they all came to visit. And she visited them every year. She always took the children. She never traveled alone, for herself. She came from a family that was very close, and that was wonderful since Rainier’s life had been quite different. His parents did not stay together. As a child, he had not had a life like hers. It was great because they could build something together, and he was very grateful to finally have a family since he had not had one before.”315
Sporadically, if their schedules allowed, they carried on this family life outside of the palace and the principality. On some weekends, especially those during the summer months of August and September, they would go to their estate at Roc Agel. This was located above the French town of La Turbie, high up Mont Agel in the Maritime Alps. In 1957, Rainier bought the old farmhouse there and renovated it. By 1959 the family house was ready. Nadia LaCoste recounted: “Sometimes they would spend the weekends there because there was no protocol that had to be followed there. They had a cook, a maid, and a butler. But when she wanted to, she also cooked herself. They were simply a family there. Up there they could live like they would in a normal house. There were also animals. They had horses, cows, and chickens. They drove up there, and it was like a normal family that had a little more money than most . . .”316
The annual weeks in Roc Agel ended in October with a month in Paris. Soon the growing family outgrew Rainier’s bachelor apartment there, eventually moving into a spacious apartment in the aristocratic Avenue Foch in the sixteenth arrondissement, the west side of Paris. Their neighbors there included the pianist Arthur Rubinstein and his wife Lena, and the writer Marcel Pagnol, who was later named the honorary consul of Monaco. Later, in the 1970s, Grace stayed there often, particularly during the time that Caroline was in Paris and Grace herself was increasingly distancing herself from Monaco.
In late May or early June 1960, several telephone conversations between Monaco and Philadelphia involving Grace and her mother Margaret took place. Grace was deeply upset; she flew to Philadelphia and stayed there for fourteen days. Her father was lying in a hospital bed and Grace felt she had to be at his side. She was very sad and distressed at this time, but she managed to keep her composure. She wanted to cheer him, not trouble him. As per usual, her own fear was kept in the background. With a heavy heart, she flew back to Nice on June 13. On June 20, 1960, John B. “Jack” Kelly died at the age of seventy of stomach cancer. He died at home in Philadelphia, in the Kelly house on Henry Avenue. He had had an operation, but it had been unsuccessful. The disease was too advanced. Again, Grace traveled to the United States for her father’s burial. Her husband did not accompany her on this trip home. Rainier left
Grace alone during these difficult hours.
The death of her father Jack had a distinct effect on Grace. She never experienced the closure—the catharsis—of finally confronting him for his neglect and mistreatment. She had wanted so badly to connect with him, to receive an explicit gesture of love from him, so that she could forgive him the pain he caused. But it never happened; it was too late.
Upon her return from the United States, she was depressed and melancholy. She was often silent and moody. She retreated into herself. Besides the deaths of Grace’s grandparents, this was one of the first deaths within the close circle of the Kelly family. Grace was still grieving—about one and a half years after the death of her father—when Alfred Hitchcock offered her the title role in his film Marnie in early 1962. The impossibility of pursuing this long-cherished dream again caused her world to collapse.
Robert Dornhelm discussed Grace’s alleged controversial behavior within the Monegasque microcosm: “She was shy. She was also shy if there were receptions or something like that. She did not like to shake hundreds of hands. Half of the people whose hands she had to shake had damp hands. Then she herself got damp hands, which was unpleasant for her. She had a disgust of damp hands. Then she said that she had decided to wear white gloves even at these events. Others thought badly of her for this.”317
And further: “In considering the rumors, the world can breathe more easily: She did not have any affairs—in case that is important to the world. Of course, she was a woman full of life, and there in the palace everything was very artificial and formal and forced. And she came from American culture, which is very free, very open, and direct. And it was precisely this that she no longer had. She longed for this afterward, the freedom to interact casually with her peers and people from her profession. To live, to breathe, to dance, to eat, as she had been accustomed to doing—without pressure to abide by the strict protocol of a royal lifestyle. Her longing to be free makes perfect sense.”318