Gina McKinnon - What Would Grace Do?: How to Live Life in Style Like the Princess of Hollywood

What would
Grace
Do?

How to Live Life in Style
Like the Princess of Hollywood

What would
Grace
Do?

Gina McKinnon

GOTHAM BOOKS

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First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Aurum Press Ltd. under the same title.

Published by Gotham Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First printing, April 2013

Copyright 2012 by Gina McKinnon

Illustrations copyright 2012 by Penelope Beech

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

McKinnon, Gina.

What would Grace do? : how to live life in style like the princess of Hollywood / Gina McKinnon.

p. cm.

First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Aurum Press Ltd. under the same title.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 978-1-101-62179-0

1. Grace, Princess of Monaco, 19291982. 2. WomenLife skills guides. 3. WomenConduct of life. I. Title.

HQ1221.M213 2013

646.70082dc23 2012035124

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

For Lily-Belle,
the most elegant little lady I know.

The Extraordinary Lives of Grace Patricia Kelly

F OR FIVE YEARS IN the 1950s, Grace Kelly was the Queen of Hollywood, but in 1956 she swapped her Tinseltown crown for a real one when exchanging I dos with Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Previously she had been a top model and a successful TV actress, and she would later become a doting mother and active philanthropist. Not to mention her position as a high priestess of style. In short, in her fifty-two years Grace Kelly lived many lives, and through them inspired generations of women. Certainly there are othersamong them Jackie O, Audrey Hepburn, and Princess Dianawho have excited the fashion world, and yet still more who have lit up the silver screen or gripped a nations hearts with their charitable deeds, but only Grace Kellymodel, actress, and princesshas done all three, and made it look effortless.

Made it look effortless. The truth is that Grace Patricia Kelly was a hard worker. From the age of seventeen when she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York to her last moment on film (shot in 1982, the year she died), Grace strove for perfection in her work. Though her film career was rather short, with her well-chosen roles, some canny decision making, and of course her camera-friendly good looks, she shone on celluloid, becoming one of films most adored and well-remembered actresses. Her faultless beauty and playful charm captured the hearts of the moviegoing public and a succession of male co-stars. And there arent many Hollywood stars whose on-screen characters so closely resemble their real life, most significantly her turn as Princess Alexandra in The Swan (1956) preemptingas Hitchcock put ither most enduring last role as wife to the Prince of Monaco.

Though her life as a princess was at times somewhat lonely, and her prince at times not so charming, she used her status as Her Serene Highness Princess Grace to change the lives of many and helped transform Monaco from a sinking ship, as one wit put it, into a dream holiday destination for the rich and famous. It was in Monaco where Grace gave birth to her three childrenthe happiest and most treasured accomplishments of her life.

Before Rainier, Grace had experienced more than her fair share of the emotional turbulence of young love. She was always falling in love in her youth, she once said, and was rumored to have slept with many a male co-starand a fair few others besides. Big, strong, older (and often married) men were her weakness. Some say this was because of the disappointment of her relationship with her domineering father, Jack Kelly. Others yet that she was a sexual predator, with a voracious appetite for passion. Such accusations only add to the mythology surrounding the (allegedly) promiscuous princess.

Of her legacy, though, perhaps the most enduring aspect is her innate sense of style; indeed sophistication and Grace Kelly go hand in white-gloved hand. She remains the unchallenged embodiment of refined glamour and poise, first appearing on Americas Best-Dressed List in 1954 and setting a standard for elegance that has inspired women ever since, from Mad Mens January Jones to Kate Middleton aka the Duchess of Cambridge. A whole look was named after herand a scarf