Jeffrey Robinson - Grace of Monaco

Grace of
Monaco

also by Jeffrey Robinson

e-book originals

Jeffrey Robinsons Criminal Intent Following the Money

Jeffrey Robinsons Criminal Intent The Swiss Wash Whiter

e-book fiction

A True and Perfect Knight

The Monks Disciples

The Margin of the Bulls

Trump Tower

e-book non-fiction

The Laundrymen: Inside the Worlds Third Largest Business:
Money Laundering

The Merger: The Conglomeration of International Organized Crime

The Sink: Terror, Crime and Dirty Money in the Offshore World

The Takedown: A Suburban Mom, A Coal Miners Son and
the Unlikely Demise of Colombias Brutal Norte Valle Cartel

The Manipulators: Unmasking the Hidden Persuaders

The Hotel: Upstairs, Downstairs in a Secret World

e-book biography

Rainier and Grace: 30 Years after the Death of Princess Grace

Bardot: Two Lives

e-book as told to

Standing Next to History: An Agents Life Inside the Secret Service
(with Joseph Petro, United States Secret Service, Retired)

Leading from the Front (with Gerald Ronson)

At Princess Graces funeral in 1982 , one of her old Hollywood buddies, Jimmy Stewart, summed up what so many people in the church that day, already knew: I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life, as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her. And every time I saw her was a holiday of its own.

Years before, when Frank Sinatra sang to her in High Society, Youre Sensational, he got that right. Years later, after her death, he was right again when he told friends, She was one helluva special broad.

Princess Grace of Monaco, nee Grace Patricia Kelly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is lovingly remembered by everyone who knew her.

This book was originally written in 1989 , with the full and unprecedented cooperation of the four people who loved her best: Prince Rainier III, Prince Albert, Princess Caroline and Princess Stephanie.

Over the years I have revised it for various editions. Grace of Monaco is the latest incarnation. Understandably, then, this book will forever be dedicated to

Grace ( 19291982 )

and to Rainier ( 19232005 )

And to Albert, Caroline, and Stephanie, too.

Your parents were sensational.

I knew Grace Kelly, the actress, from films such as Rear Window and To Catch a Thief , but I only knew Princess Grace from her very public image, the fairy tale we all witnessed from afar. I didnt know anything about her childhood. Or about her struggles as an actress, as a young artist trying to find herself, to find her place in the world. I knew even less about her marriage to Prince Rainier, and what her family life was like.

For me, approaching this role, there was a disconnect between the public Gracethe actress and the Princessand the private Grace, the mother, the wife, the daughter. For me, the central question became, what lies beneath the fairy tale? Grace was very private, deliberately so, and I wanted to honor that. But I also wanted to be true to her life and experiences.

The problem is that any time an artist or performer is asked to portray a real person, especially someone as famous as Princess Grace, there is the risk of impersonation or imitation. Thats not what I wanted. So I started by reading everything about her I could find. I studied her interviews. And I watched her films. My goal was to absorb the essence of her, so that I could honor with integrity the person she was, while also bringing a sense of expression to the part.

From experience, I knew that by taking it all in, letting everything sink in, the Grace I would portray would emerge, almost subconsciously.

At the same time, I have always been fascinated by the blurry line between art and reality. But there is also an overlap. And thats where an artist can find expression to translate into the fictionalized world of film. Ill show you what I mean. There is a moment in the film when Grace is struggling to succeed as a royal figure, when she is told by her confidante, Father Tucker, that she needs to approach her royal duties as if she is acting the role of a lifetime. Its a key moment, because thats how Grace discovers who she is in Monaco. That became one of my keys to understanding her. It stayed with me because I could imagine how complex and difficult that was. As a head of state, you have to act, you have to perform, and yet, it is not an act or a performance, it is your life. In real life, you dont have the walls of the movie set, the frame of the camera, to tell you who to be. Grace survived a tremendous challenge of identity: finding the right balance between actress, mother, wife, and princess.

Thats impressive.

As I got to know her, I was also very impressed how deeply dedicated she was to her children and to her husbandto providing for her family. Her early years had been spent amidst the wealth of old money Philadelphia. Then came the struggle to succeed as an artist, and the fame of Hollywood stardom. After that came ever greater fame, plus the glamor of Monaco. And yet, she stayed true to her convictions, to her belief that love is the most important thing of all.

It was love, compassion, and sensitivity that served as her compass as she navigated her way through life. We all know that fame and wealth can be deceptively misleading. And Grace knew that more than most. But she knew what mattered, set her compass true and often referred to it for guidance. It told her, listen to your heart.

Staying true to her heart is why, I think, people connect so strongly with her. And nowhere is that connection greater than in Monaco. She arrived in 1956 as Grace Kelly, the actress, but by 1962, around the time that Alfred Hitchcock asked her to return to acting and star in his film Marniewhich is one of the central themes of the filmshe was no longer Grace Kelly, she had become Princess Grace.

It was a unique transformation, something the world had never seen before. Even today, you can feel Graces presence in Monaco. Its something that Olivier Dahan, the director of the film, kept sayingthat Grace became Monaco and Monaco became Grace. That the two were inseparable then. That they are inseparable now.

I find something beautiful about thata person, a moment of existence, and a place being aligned so clearly.

But I also came to feel a certain emptiness.

I got to know Grace by reading about her and studying her and seeing her films, and with that familiarity came a sense of loss.

I feel deeply that, when she died in 1982, the world lost a really special woman.

What remains is the film version of her life, which has taken gentle liberties with her story for the sake of the cinema, and this biography, which tells it like it really was. For my part, I have tried to keep alive in the film the true magic that was Grace. And Jeffrey has kept that same magic alive in this book.

I hope you enjoy both.

There is a slight chill in the air as the sun starts to climb its way over the edge of the horizon, far out to sea.

The water goes from pale gray, a mirror of the sky, to a stunning bluish green as the morning steadily sneaks into the corners of the port and lights up a building there that is strawberry pink.