by Thilo Wydra
When Salinger surprised her at one point with a question about how she would like to be remembered in the future, she answered: “I would like to be remembered as someone who accomplished useful deeds, and who was a kind and loving person.”451
And it was as if her words contained a quiet premonition of a premature farewell.
The grave of Grace Kelly, Princess Gracia Patricia of Monaco, can be found in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas high up on Le Rocher. The steps to the cathedral command a stunning view of the azure blue sea and the horizon. Grace and Prince Rainier III were married there. Now they are both buried there, side by side.
Groups of tourists from all around the world come time and time again to the cathedral. They are led through the sacred building, which is now part of the Parcours Princesse Grace, the Grace Kelly Trail, in Monaco. This path crosses the principality, and along it, twenty-five photographic panels have been installed at various places. In the cathedral, the tourists finally come to rest at one spot; at the end of the choir gallery on the left side are the royal graves.
Here lies Grace Kelly.
In simple Latin letters, one can read:
GRACIA PATRICIA
PRINCIPIS RAINERII III UXOR
OBIIT ANN. DNI. MDMLXXXII
Here, at this gravestone, ends the life story of the girl from Henry Avenue in Philadelphia. The American girl who became a princess.
The pre-Christian, Roman poet Titus Plautus supposedly once said, “He whom the gods love dies young.”
The gods must have loved Grace Kelly.
—AFTERWORD
Conversation with Prince Albert II of Monaco
—Thilo Wydra:
What comes into your mind first, Your Highness, as her son, when you think about your mother, Princess Grace?
—Prince Albert II:
Of course—and I do think I am speaking for my sisters as well—what comes into our mind straightaway mostly is our mother. She was a princess also, she was an incredible and generous person, gave her time to others. She was also very involved with humanitarian and charitable activities. That’s also very much there—but how we remember her straightaway is, of course, how she was as a mother. And she was very loving, very careful—it’s her generosity which was part of her character and her spirit. What a wonderful life we had with her. The incredible thing, and I’m sure we will come back to it in the conversation, but it still amazes me how many lives she touched with her personality, her generosity—still today. That still has a meaning, it still has value, the fact that people identify with her, still do. This incredible connection that, I think, got through the generations. She is still relevant. She still means something to the younger generations.
Could you define the attitude, which your mother had toward life? It seemed to be a very special, graceful attitude.
Graceful—yes. It’s hard to put it into words, and it’s hard to really describe it in the right way. But of course she was . . . she really knew how to listen to people and how to connect with people. As you said, in a very graceful way, in a very touching way. And I don’t think that anybody who’s . . . that I have known . . . wears her name like she did. She really had grace and kindness in her attitude towards people. So, yes, she really knew how to listen to people, how to comfort them, she loved sharing things about her education, with other children, with other women or with other people. Learning more about their lives, listening to their problems. She really revelled in that, she was . . . that also gave her a lot of energy and meaning, this contact with other people.
Actually one could gain the impression that she was a very sensitive person, who could feel the emotions of other people, who could realize their feelings or thoughts. And at the same time, besides her sensitivity, she seemed to be very strong, of a strong will. Which, at first glance, seems to be a contradiction, but which might not be at all.
Absolutely. She had that inner strength, that ability to stand on her own and to stand by her convictions, but yet she was incredibly sensitive to the world around her, to other people, to other people’s unhappiness or stress or . . . I think that’s why she loved her work for very charitable organisations. She tried to help other people in a very genuine way. But also to other friends of hers, if they had problems in their lives, she also tried to, very discreetly, but . . . so she had that great sensibility, this loving nature.
Do you know where this nature came from? Also this wish to help people, to be there for others?
I think it is most probably through her upbringing, values that she had already in her family—my grandparents. My grandmother was also a very strong character, she was also very intent to the need of others . . . and for my mother, those were really great, strong memories that also shaped her. But I think my mother, because of the fact that she was exposed to a lot of other cultures as well, she managed to travel to other parts of the world even before marrying my father and becoming Princess Grace of Monaco, she already had a keen sense of what the world was about. And how she could help.
Highness, you just mentioned your grandparents, John B. Kelly, who was Irish, and Margaret Majer, who was German. So, apparently, there are several contacts to Germany—can you remember your grandmother, Margaret?
Yes, very well. In fact, I was one of the last of the family to have seen her. She was in a nursing home. So I went there once, before she passed away. But she was an incredible lady, too. Very strong, very sort of no-nonsense with us kids. We visited her mostly in the summer time. She would always welcome us and cook for us, and be there for us, but she’d discipline us, too, so . . .
Did your mother tell you very much about her parents, your grandparents?
Yes, but more about my grandfather, about John B. Kelly, because I hardly knew him. He died when I was two years. So unfortunately—and I always regretted not to have known him better and not to have been able to have some conversations with him. He’s a legendary figure, not only in our family, but throughout the United States. But he was also a very generous man, also had that spirit of entrepreneurship. Making it, on his own, in a country where he wasn’t born yet he built his career pretty quickly. And I think also that that side, the Irish side of the family is also very important. We are all very proud of that heritage, as we are of the German side, too. But I think that also adds to the fact of the character of, you know, being generous, and Irish people are usually very generous in spirit and heart and so on, so that’s an added dimension to it.
So—it’s a good mixture. Did your mother speak German a little bit?
Yes, a little bit. You know, I think she explained it, of course my grandmother tried to teach them German. I think there was a War Resistance at that time. So, especially when the War Years came, it was a different attitude. But I think that’s why she encouraged us, her kids—Stéphanie not so much, although she understands a bit, but Caroline and myself—so she encouraged us to speak German, also probably because she gave that up too soon. So I wound up saying a few words once in a while, in German, to my grandmother . . . but she didn’t want to speak it, she didn’t want to have a single conversation. But also because she lost a bit of practice over the years. She sort of humored us once in a while.
Did your mother speak to you about her former strong wish to become an actress?
Yes, a little bit. She would start by saying that it was because of her interest in the theatre. And at first it was—as it is for a lot of actors—that wonderful thrill of performing in front of live audiences, so she really enjoyed that part, the theatre acting, her theatre years. And, of course, she went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. During that full time she was exposed to a lot of different roles, a lot of different, great theatre experiences . . . I think she really enjoyed studying plays, learning lines, and acting, and both the other actors and the directors wanted her to continue. But it’s true that at first . . . well, I was told when I asked my grandmother, that no one in the family seriously believed that she would become an actress.
She was sort of shy, and she had a great disposition, but not really a typical personality for an actress. And I think it helped her also to overcome her shyness.
Would you call it something like a kind of “vocation”?
Well, I think it’s something . . . I think . . . it became pretty apparent rapidly that she would embrace that career. So, I don’t think she would have done anything else than that with her life.
Did she speak about the movies she used to shoot?
Yes, and I did ask her a few questions about it. I was probably the one of the three children that asked her the most about it. What was it like? What was Clark Gable like? What was James Stewart like? And Cary Grant. And of course I met Cary Grant, and Alfred Hitchcock. Yes, you know, it was interesting. Because also I was interested, even more so when I started taking film criticism courses when I was at Amherst. I did some film and literature courses there. She was happy that I took interest in that. But I probably had more questions after, as I was taking these courses. She wouldn’t want . . . I think it’s because she wouldn’t want to bore us with it. Although she was very proud of what she did, she wanted to emphasize more her activities now, more than stories of the past. But she was very happy to share some of these . . . great memories . . .
You met Alfred Hitchcock personally?
Yes. But I was probably still too young to appreciate him. He was always very kind to us children and he had a great sense of humour. Incredible personality—always very calm, very British, very dry sense of humour, but incredibly kind.
Can you kind of make out why this relationship—on a working level and as a deep friendship—between your mother and Alfred Hitchcock, where this came from, where the roots of this are to be found?
I think it’s because—and this was referred to several times in interviews with Alfred Hitchcock or his critics or his biographers—that this was his ideal leading lady. One, that was very blonde, very innocent, but fragile . . . and sometimes referred to as a cold lady . . . But that’s what he liked. But also because he was able to show that . . . of course, my mother, but the other leading ladies as well, Kim Novak, Tippi Hedren . . . that they also have a personality, they could also be strong. I think he liked those contrasts, that things and people are really not secure in a way, are not always what they appear. That’s a great strength of vision to be able to show that, to want to show that.
Do you know if the friendship between your mother and Alfred Hitchcock lasted until Hitchcock’s death in 1980?
Oh yes, very very much so. She was so . . . well you saw there some of the letters that were shown in the exhibition—but there were other, more personal letters that we didn’t show. But, you know, of course they stayed very, very close. And she was very affected by Hitchcock. I am sure that if she could have, she would have made more movies with him. You know he was thinking about her for Marnie, but also she was supposed to be in North by Northwest.
Did your mother tell you something about the Marnie conflict from 1962?
She never talked about it too much because I think maybe it was sort of a difficult subject for her, as she really would have loved to play that part, but of course, she realized that it would have been awkward and it wouldn’t have pleased my father too much, and so I am sure that she regretted that but . . .
Did your father, Prince Rainier, support her in this aim or was it rather kind of difficult for him?
I think he wasn’t completely opposed to it but, you know, he was kind of . . . in-between, but I think that he also realized that here in Monaco it probably would not have been very well-accepted and he had to accept that after thinking about it. I think it would have been a very difficult situation for her, and he didn’t want to be in that kind of situation either. And he was also at the time having some difficulties with France, as you recall. So I think he didn’t want to add fuel to that fire.
You just mentioned Hitchcock’s North by Northwest as well . . .
Yes—Hitchcock had thought of her for that role . . . but, she was a mother then, and it was difficult for her for other reasons also. I think she would have wanted that. Maybe not as much as Marnie, but . . .
Two shorter questions: Do you have a favorite movie of your mother? And, second, did she have a favorite of her own?
I’ll start with her. I think she was very pleased with her performance in The Country Girl, but I don’t think it was her favourite movie. I am not sure, which one was . . . I think she liked herself in different scenes in different movies. I think she also liked—[and that’s my favorite]—overall she liked Rear Window. That’s not why it’s my favourite movie, because I like them all, not only because of her, but it’s a study of, you know, voyeurism and social behaviour, and psychological intensity.
Claude Chabrol once said that this court and the apartments at the other side of it do offer several proposals of how to lead your life—and James Stewart and Grace Kelly are confronted with these various proposals.
Oh, yes, absolutely, very interesting—fascinating!
What would be important for you to be written in a book about your mother? What would be your wish?
Well, I think it’s great . . . thank you for making this tribute to my mother and showing some aspects of her life and her personality that aren’t as well-known as others. And I know that it’s very heart-warming to us that there is such a [regard] still towards my mother around the world; I think she would be very proud, very fortunate to have you write a book that shows her as the incredible being that she was.
—APPENDIX
Endnotes
All the author’s interviews were recorded on cassette. All the documents quoted throughout this book were reproduced or copied.
1 Yann-Brice Dherbier/Pierre-
Henri Verlhac (Hrsg.): Grace Kelly. Bilder eines Lebens. Berlin 2006, S. 18.
2 J. Randy Taraborrelli: Grace Kelly und Fürst Rainier. Ein Hollywoodmärchen in Monaco. Frankfurt am Main 2004, S. 41..
3 Television Documentary. The Hollywood Collection: Grace Kelly—The American Princess. 1987.
4 Suzanne Lander (Editor). Grace Kelly. Eine Hommage in Fotografien, Berlin: Schwarzkopf + Schwarzkopf, 2009, p 23.
5 In some sources, he is referenced under the name Yves Phily.
6 James Spada: Grace. Das geheime Vorleben einer Fürstin. Berlin 1996, S. 375.
7 Conversation between the author and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Royal Palace, Monaco, November 28, 2011.
8 Wendy Leigh. True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007, p. 11.
9 Heppenheim Municipal Archives, Archival Documents: Genealogy. “Weitere Nachträge zur Ahnenliste der Fürstin Grace Patricia von Monaco geb. Kelly”; Ernst Löslein: V., Zur Ahnenschaft von Margaretha Berg. Volume 8, Folder 4, April 1967, p. 694–702.
10 Conversation between the author and Harald E. Jost, Heppenheim Municipal Archives. August 2, 2011, in Heppenheim.
11 Ibid.
12 Stadtarchiv Heppenheim, Archiv-Unterlagen: Auszug aus dem Taufregister des Jahres 1870.
13 Ibid. “Konvolut Grace Kelly.” Notice to the Mayor. Supplement to Short Notice Nr. 5957 v. 23. 3. 1956; 26. 3. 1956, p. 2.
14 Ibid. Excerpt from the Baptism Register of 1870.
15 Ibid. “Konvolut Grace Kelly.” Notice to the Mayor. Supplement to Short Notice Nr. 5957 v. 23. 3. 1956; 26. 3. 1956, p. 1.
16 Ibid. p. 1 ff.
17 Conversation between the author and Harald E. Jost, Heppenheim Municipal Archives. August 2, 2011, in Heppenheim.
18 Heppenheim Municipal Archives, Archival Documents. “Konvolut Grace Kelly.” Letter from the Foreign Office, Bonn, dated May 2, 1956.
19 Ibid. “Konvolut Grace Kelly.” Typescript of the Kelly Visit, dated April 21, 1958. p. 1 ff.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid. Bergsträßer Anzeiger vom 16. 3. 1999, Nr. 62.
22 Ibid. Typescript of the Kelly visit, dated April 21, 1958. p. 1 ff.
23 Sources for th
is information include: Website www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=17693 755: Grabstein der Familie Kelly – Margaret Majer, Dec. 13, 1898 – Jan. 6, 1990/Website: www.genealogylookups.com/gedcoms/psmonaco/fam00050.htm.
24 Sarah Bradford: Gracia Patricia. Fürstin von Monaco. Bergisch Gladbach 1985, S. 31.
25 Sources for this information include: Website www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7467 719: Grabstein der Familie Kelly – John Brendan Oct. 4, 1889 – June 20, 1960/Stadtarchiv Heppenheim, Archiv-Unterlagen: Genealogie. C. Frederick Kaufholz: Die deutschen Ahnen der Fürstin von Monaco, Grace Patricia geb. Kelly; Band 7, Heft 1, Januar/Februar 1964, S. 2; Wendy Leigh: True Grace. The Life and Times of an American Princess. New York 2007, S. 6.
26 Conversation between the author and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Royal Palace, Monaco, November 28, 2011.
27 Donald Spoto. High Society. The Life of Grace Kelly. New York: Harmony Books, 2009. p. 16.
28 Conversations between the author and Robert Dornhelm. Mougins near Cannes on May 13. and 21, 2011, Munich on September 7, 2011.
29 Ibid.
30 Wendy Leigh. True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess. New York, 2007, p. 11.
31 Ibid.
32 Conversation between the author and Mary Louise Murray-Johnson. Heidelberg on August 3, 2011.
33 Ibid.
34 Conversation between the author and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Royal Palace, Monaco, November 28, 2011.
35 Gant Gaither: Fürstin von Monaco. Bern/Stuttgart/Wien 1957, S. 9.
36 Zitiert nach: Gwen Robyns: Gracia Patricia, Fürstin von Monaco. München 1981, S. 28.
37 Wendy Leigh: True Grace. The Life and Times of an American Princess. New York 2007, S. 10 ff.
38 Among others: TV Documentary, Legenden—Grace Kelly, ARD/MDR 2002.
39 Gregor Ball: Grace Kelly. Ihre Filme – ihr Leben. München 1983, S. 22.
