Wedding of Grace Kelly and Rainier III. Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III: iconic wedding
Rainier III: wedding of the century" data-essbishovercontainer="">
Prince of Monaco and Princess of Hollywood
Prince Rainier III, heir to one of the oldest European families, the Grimaldi, ascended the throne at the age of 26. He inherited this small country, not yet a haven of millionaires, which Somerset Maugham described as “a sunny place for dark characters.”
Also read:
Rainier was never a close relative of the ruling European dynasties; on the one hand, his family has many minor royal ancestors, such as King James IV of Scotland or Stephanie de Beauharnais, the adopted daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte.
On the other hand, “proletarian origin.” His mother Charlotte was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Louis II and Marie Juliette Louvet, who worked... as a singer in a cabaret.
Also read:
According to the law, Grimaldi's distant relative, the German subject Wilhelm von Urach, was supposed to inherit the throne. But at the height of the First World War, such a prospect did not please anyone, including the French government. As a result, Charlotte was granted the title and right of inheritance, which she subsequently renounced in favor of her son.
The marriage of Rainier's parents was a classic arranged union and ended in divorce. His father, Prince Pierre de Polignac, became a citizen of Monaco only a month before his wedding to Charlotte.
Also read:
Prince Rainier (in his father's arms) and Grace Kelly as children
Grace Kelly came from a family of descendants of immigrants (her father was Irish by blood, her mother was German), who achieved everything in life on their own. Her mother was a model and athlete, eventually becoming the first female physical education teacher at Philadelphia University.
My father also excelled in sports at first; he rowed and won gold at two Olympics in 1920 and 1924. And then in business - having started working as a simple mason, he built own business, which brought him a million-dollar fortune.
Grace grew up big and friendly family— the Kelly couple had four children — and received a strict Catholic upbringing. All this, coupled with her stormy temperament and strong character, gave birth to a “phenomenon” named Grace Kelly.
Alfred Hitchcock once described it with a very accurate metaphor - “a volcano under the snow.” Under the mask of education and excellent taste, a desperate and passionate nature was hidden.
She decided to move to New York to study at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, while working part-time as a model. At the age of 20 she received her first role on Broadway, at 22 she received her first role on TV, at 24 she received her first Oscar nomination for her role in Mogambo, and a year later she won the coveted statuette for the film The Country Girl.
Both have been in love more than once. Rainier tied up long relationship with actress Giselle Pascal, they were together for almost 6 years, but the girl chose a career. Grace was often carried away by her film partners; for example, on the set of “Mogambo” she began an affair with Clark Gable himself.
However, despite her many hobbies, Grace was officially engaged only once, to Oleg Cassini, a Russian-born fashion designer and future stylist for Jackie Kennedy.
Grace's parents were primarily opposed to marriage with Cassini. He was much older, divorced, and had a fiery temperament. Much later, after the death of Grace, Cassini said in an interview with People magazine that he fell in love with her when he saw her on the screen in the film “Mogambo”, and was very passionate about her.
I'm writing to you
The prince and the actress met in 1955. Grace Kelly, as part of the American delegation, came to the Cannes Film Festival: many official meetings and photo sessions, among which was one proposed by the photographer Paris Match - in Monaco, along with the young prince. And Grace agreed.
The day of the planned shooting for Grace and Rainier did not go well in the morning. Excited about meeting the crowned lady, Grace was unhappy with her dress and hairstyle, and on the way she had a minor accident.
The prince was late for his meeting with the actress, which made him nervous and angry. According to legend, Rainier saw Grace for the first time in the hall where the meeting was scheduled, when she was rehearsing a curtsey in front of the mirror. Rainier was so charmed by this that Bad mood disappeared.
The shooting went off without incident, and Grace returned to Cannes. There, during a conversation with another former admirer, French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont, she only mentioned in passing that Rainier was “very nice.”
However, immediately after meeting, they began a secret correspondence that lasted almost six months. The mediator in this matter was one of the prince’s closest assistants, the American priest Father Francis Tucker.
Rainier later said that with each letter, he and Grace “opened up more and more to each other.” He told Grace biographer Donald Spoto that it was a difficult task to find someone who could be his at the same time. kindred spirit, a like-minded person, and at the same time a lover. They became friends long before “the priest joined their hands.”
Their correspondence romance for a long time was a secret even for close people. Grace's friend Rita Gam recalled: Grace once said that she had “found her prince.” Not knowing who we're talking about, Gam at first thought that Grace was referring to the generalized concept of a “prince charming” that girls dream of, and only then it turned out that the prince was a real one.
Dowry and the “friendship ring”
Almost six months after they met, the Prince of Monaco made an official visit to the United States. Journalists, having heard about Rainier's matrimonial intentions, asked him point blank at the first press conference whether he had come to America in search of a wife.
After answering “no,” they asked the following “leading” question: “If you were looking for a wife, what kind of wife would she be?”
Rainier smiled and replied: “I don’t know, probably the best,” and then added a mysterious description of his future wife as “a certain lady with hair the color of the passing autumn and eyes blue or violet with specks of gold.”
A few days later, Rainier met with Grace and her family for a formal introduction.
Rainier long years dreamed of the impossible: to find the perfect princess for his small country and at the same time marry for love. Grace seemed to be the absolute embodiment of his dream, but she also had to overcome some “formal obstacles.”
Also read:
Rainier brought with him a doctor, whose task was to make sure that the bride was able to give birth to an heir. Grace, at the first moment, decided that the purpose of the examination was to make sure of her virginity, of which not a trace remained for a long time, and at first she refused.
The second obstacle was the dowry. Both the actress herself and her family were not poor, but the actress’s parents had to raise $2 million for the prince.
Before the official engagement, Rainier dropped a trial balloon, so to speak. He gave the bride a “friendship ring” with diamonds and rubies in the color of the Monaco flag, and only later presented the same thing famous ring with a 10.5 carat diamond from Cartier.
When the engagement became public, Grace told her friend Rita Gam: “I love his eyes. I can look at them for hours."
Rainier asked Grace to marry him on Christmas Eve 1955, and on January 5, 1956, the engagement was announced at a press conference at Kelly's home in Philadelphia.
Wedding of the century
Preparations for this “wedding of the century” took several months, and the ceremony itself was preceded by almost a week of festivities.
On April 4, 1956, New York journalists escorted the yacht Constitution to Monaco, on board were Grace Kelly, her family, 60 friends and the poodle Oliver, given to the actress by Cary Grant. Eight days later, on the morning of April 12, the ship, along with all the honest company, entered the bay of Hercules and dropped anchor.
Prince Rainier's brand new yacht Deo Juvante II came out to meet her from the port of Monte Carlo - the name of the yacht, which is also the motto of the Grimaldi house, written on the coat of arms of Monaco, means “with God's help.”
With God's help, the prince reached the bride's yacht and finally embraced her as thousands of white and red carnations rained down on them from the heavens. It was not God who did his best here, but Aristotle Onassis, whose seaplane staged this colorful show.
The inhabitants of Monte Carlo watched the arrival of their new princess, occupying the pier and the windows of houses overlooking the bay. The bride and groom are surrounded by enthusiastic screams, applause and camera flashes. Grace wore a dark blue suit and a wide-brimmed white hat, which greatly upset the gathered crowd, who wanted to see her face.
According to the law, Grace and Rainier had two ceremonies: civil and religious. The civil, more modest, took place on April 18, 1956, with the young couple there were five official witnesses, including Grace's sister Peggy and Rainier's sister Princess Antoinette.
The next day a religious ceremony took place. MGM, in exchange for releasing Grace from her contract, filmed and broadcast both weddings on television and the silver screen.
The bride's grandiose dress was also a gift from MGM. It was invented by costume designer and friend of the actress Helen Rose, and was sewn by 36 seamstresses over three weeks. The dress was decorated with antique lace, purchased for almost $2,500, and the bodice, veil and shoes were embroidered with pearls. The bride held a small bouquet of white lilies of the valley in her hands.
Grace chose six friends and her sister Peggy as her bridesmaids. The prince was accompanied by his cousin Count Charles de Polignac and the bride's brother John Kelly.
Both ceremonies ended with grand receptions attended by almost 700 guests, including Aristotle Onassis, hotelier Conrad Hilton, who represented US President Eisenhower, Francois Mitterrand, who was then the French Minister of Justice, and film stars: David Niven, Cary Grant, Gloria Swenson and Ava Gardner. There was even a special representative of Pope Pius XII.
It is not surprising that the groom and especially the bride had difficulty in enduring this “fun”. On the evening of April 19, they sailed into the sunset on the same yacht of Prince Rainier, but literally immediately dropped anchor again: the first week honeymoon Grace was down with the flu. IN next days We made up for lost time by traveling around the French Riviera, the coast of Spain and Corsica.
Life after marriage
“I became a princess before I had time to think about it,” Grace once said. Gossips said that their marriage was a simple arrangement; friends only noticed that they were opposites.
Rainier was pragmatic, loved sports, expensive cars and animals in his zoo. Grace, on the contrary, was sensitive and loved art. Over time, the misunderstanding between them began to grow.
In the early years, Princess Grace devoted herself entirely to her family and her new small homeland. Its fame brought hundreds of tourists to the country, and Rainier's thoughtful rule ultimately made Monaco and its citizens one of the richest countries in the world.
Grace gave birth to Rainier three children: princesses Caroline and Stephanie and crown prince Alberta. She was actively involved in charity work, and free time I made paintings from dried flowers.
A few years later, she was again invited to act in films, and she really wanted to return, but she could not make this decision alone. The country made the decision. The Monegasques unanimously opposed the return of their princess to Hollywood.
Meanwhile, the children grew up, and the royal family looked less and less like the ideal that Grace aspired to. Her eldest daughter Caroline got married and divorced almost immediately with scandal. The son was passionate about sports and girls and did not at all strive to settle down.
The youngest, Stefania, enthusiastically built a musical career and ignored secular conventions no less than her elders. The husband was too busy with government affairs and, according to rumors, Grace eventually began to take young lovers in an attempt to retain her vanishing youth.
***
On September 13, 1982, Grace Kelly was returning to Monaco by car with her daughter Stephanie. Under the pretext that she needed to have a serious talk with her daughter, she let the driver go and got behind the wheel herself.
At one of the serpentine turns, her Rover 3500 car flew into the abyss. Princess Stephanie miraculously survived, but her mother received life-threatening injuries. As it later turned out, Grace Kelly suffered a mini-stroke while driving, which caused her to lose control.
Her funeral became a tragedy, Prince Rainier walked behind his wife’s coffin, not hiding his tears, no past disagreements and rumors no longer played a role. Rainier outlived his wife by almost a quarter of a century, dying in April 2006. Their children still rule the small kingdom, which still idolizes its beautiful princess Grace.
Also read:
Every girl dreams of meeting a prince. The beautiful actress Grace Kelly not only met and fell in love with the 33-year-old Prince of Monaco, but also built a marriage with him strong family. Their union was considered ideal. Grace, who was the most happy woman at the beginning of the marriage, turned out to be a bird imprisoned in golden cage, at the end of life.
Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly was born in 1929 in Philadelphia into the family of millionaire Jack Kelly, who made his first big money as the owner of the Kelly company. Brick works." The family had four children. All children grew up in strict rules and were not spoiled by their parents. The main role in shaping Grace's future personality was played by the girl's uncle, actor George Kelly, who noticed her talent at a young age.
By the age of fourteen, Grace Kelly was already playing in the theater, and before our eyes the girl was turning from an ugly duckling into a real beauty. She had many admirers, but Jack Kelly tried to protect his daughter from early love interests.
Moving to New York
The girl managed to get rid of her father’s guardianship only after moving to New York. IN big city Grace made many new acquaintances. In the company of friends she felt relaxed. Grace Kelly studied at the Academy of Dramatic Arts. There she met student Herbie Miller, and attractive guy became her friend. The girl worked part-time as a fashion model, and sent all the money she earned to her family.
Luck smiled on the girl during the casting for the film “High Noon,” which was going to be filmed in Hollywood. In April 1952, Grace woke up famous; the film “High Noon,” in which she starred, received three Oscars.
Meeting Grace Kelly with Rainier III
In 1955, when Grace Kelly became truly famous and led a delegation of US filmmakers during the Cannes Film Festival, she received an offer to visit the Principality of Monaco. At that time, many celebrities dreamed about this, but Grace reacted to this proposal quite restrainedly.
Everything didn't go according to plan from the very beginning. Due to the fact that the electricity was turned off in her hotel, the actress managed to dry her hair completely, and she came to meet the prince in a rumpled dress and with a bun on her head. Rainier was also not delighted with the upcoming meeting, but as soon as the prince saw the attractive blonde who was rehearsing a bow of greeting at the mirror, he fell in love with her at first sight. Then there was a fascinating walk in the park and a nice conversation. It turned out that general topics they have more than enough. Despite her carefree nature, Grace Kelly was quite educated and was able to conquer the prince not only with her appearance, but also with her knowledge of many topics.
The meeting ended and the girl flew home; she sent Rainier a letter thanking him for the reception. The Prince of Monaco was over thirty, he was looking for a future wife and the mother of his children. Whatever you say, Grace was in the right place at the right time.
Wedding and married life of Grace Kelly and Rainier III
By this time, the career of actress Grace Kelly had reached its peak. She was tired of the admiring glances of men; she had to make a decision on how to live further. On December 25, Prince Rainier visited the Kelly family, he proposed marriage to Grace, and she said yes. wedding ceremony took place in Monaco on April 18, 1956. The bride was wearing a dress that took one hundred meters of antique lace, which was searched for in all museums in France, and her veil was decorated with one thousand pearls
It was truly royal wedding. The dowry of the future princess amounted to two million dollars. At that moment, Grace decided what she wanted from life. The girl completely abandoned her career as an actress; her family worried her much more than working in films. Less than a year later, Grace gave birth to her husband's daughter, who was named Caroline Louise Margarita; a few years later, Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre was born - the heir to the throne.
Grace Kelly's stay in Monaco had a positive impact on economic growth in the principality. Even before her wedding to Rainier, Grace Kelly was a fairly recognizable personality; it was her name that added to the number of tourists who began to visit Monaco. Grace Kelly devoted all her free time to charity, in addition to this, she was raising her own children.
In 1965, the couple had a third child, it was a girl, she was named Stefania Maria Elisaveta. Unfortunately, Grace Kelly could not have any more children - the fourth boy died without being born. It was rumored that after this Prince Rainier lost interest in his wife: he became a real tyrant, was jealous and humiliated her, believing that the people of Monaco loved his wife more than himself. Grace forgave her husband everything. In 1981 they celebrated their silver wedding.
Last years
Time passed, the children grew up. Caroline had a loud and scandalous marriage behind her, Albert, who was the future heir, was not interested in anything except sports and girls, and the youngest daughter Stefania grew up as a “tomboy” - she rode a motorcycle and despised feminine clothes. The image of an impeccable family that Grace had so diligently built was crumbling. She no longer considered her life fabulous and her family ideal, although she tried not to show her disappointment to the public.
Shortly before the disaster that claimed her life, Grace, according to contemporaries, took a lover in Paris and practically moved to live with him. At the very end of her life's journey, she dreamed of only one thing - to resume her acting career. Her violent and restless nature, which for so long was hidden behind the façade of an impregnable " snow queen", rushed out.
One day she decided to talk to her daughter face to face, and to do this she decided to refuse the services of a driver and got behind the wheel of the car herself. It was fatal mistake. Immersed either in her thoughts or in a conversation, the wife of Prince Rainier made a mistake, the car drove off the road and fell from a great height.
Journalists said that there was an argument inside the car, and Grace Kelly suffered a stroke. Having never recovered from the accident, the princess died on September 14, 1982. At that time she was only 52 years old. Youngest daughter Stefania, who was in the car with her mother, survived. There was practically no scratch on it. Great love ended tragically, and it was a huge loss for Monaco and the whole world.
Rainier's life after Grace's death
Celebrities and monarchs from America and Europe came to the princess’s funeral, local residents cried in the streets, and Rainier walked arm in arm with his daughter and did not hide his tears. By his decree, he banned the showing of films in Monaco in which his wife starred. He remained alone more and more often, and appeared less and less at social events.
oriental tale against the background of world politics, it conquered the whole world and, unfortunately, ended in tragedy.
Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III - such a couple was simply doomed to everyone's attention, and their wedding, which took place on April 19, 1956, went down in history as one of the most famous. Well, the bride’s magnificent dress matched her, and also became famous, becoming a model of incredibly elegant and sophisticated for many years. wedding dress. More than half a century has passed, but it still serves as a source of inspiration for many brides...
Well, if you marry a prince, you should look like a princess. On her wedding day, the beautiful Grace looked exactly like a princess - though, rather, not a real one, but a fairy-tale one.
A tight-fitting bodice and a fluffy skirt - on this basis you can build the most different variants, and Rose turned out to be one of the most spectacular.
The bodice of the dress without a neckline, on the contrary, with a small stand-up collar, covering the base of the neck, and with only a small cutout at the throat, fastened in front with small buttons (there are about thirty), with long sleeves, was made of lace. There seemed to be no seams on it - in fact, there were many of them, but they were completely invisible, since individual fragments of the precious lace were cut out, separated from the base and re-joined exactly according to the figure. Of course, the bodice could not be sheer, so it consisted of two layers: a sleeveless bodice of ivory taffeta, and the above-described lace bodice over it.
In a word, the dress was a rather complex structure (no wonder it came with instructions on how to put it on correctly), but that’s not all!
Next came the most magnificent overskirt; a wide silk belt tightly covering the waist with folded transverse folds further emphasized the contrast - between thin waist and a massive skirt, between the lace of the upper part of the dress, embroidered with tiny pearls, and the smooth silkiness of the lower part.
The front of the skirt was smooth, but the back had pleats. On the day of celebrations, many eyes are turned on the bride, and often her back is turned to the guests, so it is very important that the dress looks no less impressive from that side than from the front. So Helen Rose resorted to a neat trick - the back of the taffeta overskirt had a slit from the waist to the very bottom. Several bows grabbed it approximately to the level of the knees, preventing the floors from diverging, but beyond that a train made of silk mesh and lace peeked out. At the bottom, the taffeta skirt swung open completely, effectively showing off the lace of the train hidden underneath.
In a word, one can understand why even in our time, when it is already difficult to surprise a seemingly jaded viewer, Grace Kelly’s wedding dress produces a stunning effect - both from a distance and up close.
However, Grace was also wrapped in a very real flair - her veil. When unfolded, the veil was a circle pinned on the back of the head so that the veil was long at the back (where it reached the floor), and short at the front, when draped over the face, to approximately the waist. It was made of the finest silk mesh and was also decorated with lace appliqués. In order not to hide Grace's face and not to obscure the beauty of the dress, they were allowed only along the edge of the veil. The motif of the patterns was floral, but among the flowers there were also small birds, symbolizing lovers.
And in fact, it is not so important how much the antique lace cost, how many pearls were sewn onto the fabric, how many hours it took to sew. It is important that the result was a single ensemble, which for many years has served as an example of a real princess wedding outfit.
Although it would be more correct to say princesses.
Having played the role of a princess in the film "The Swan", in the same year Grace Kelly turned into a princess in reality. Wedding of a Hollywood actress and Prince Rainier III of Monaco took place April 19, 1956 and became one of the most striking social events of the 20th century.
On this day, the streets of Monte Carlo were crowded with people - more than 20 thousand residents of the principality and fans of the actress gathered at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. The wedding ceremony itself was watched by 30 million people on the planet on television, and about 1000 guests of honor were present in the cathedral during the wedding. Among them are representatives of European royal families and Hollywood stars. They say that there is such an influx of celebrities british queen Elizabeth II considered it “excessive” and refused the invitation to the wedding.
The bride's luxurious dress was created by Metro Goldwyn Mayer MGM film studio designer Helen Rose. To this day, it is the designer’s most expensive work and the standard of wedding fashion. The ivory-colored dress took 25 meters of silk taffeta and antique Belgian lace 125 years ago to make. By the way, Prince Rainier bought it from the museum. The bride's head was decorated with a lace tiara, and she held in her hands small bouquet from lilies of the valley.
At the end of the wedding ceremony, the newlyweds got into an open-top Rolls-Royce, donated to the couple by subjects of the principality, and drove around Monte Carlo with a festive cortege. Then the newlyweds and their guests enjoyed a gala dinner, at which Prince Rainier cut off the top of the six-story cake with a sword.
As wedding gift Grace Kelly received a yacht on which the newlyweds went to Honeymoon across the Mediterranean Sea. When the yacht set sail from the shore, carnations rained down on it from the private plane of billionaire Aristotle Onassis, who helped the newlyweds meet. This is how a new round in the history of Monaco began and the acting career of Grace Kelly ended - after the wedding, her husband forbade her to act in films.
Tomorrow is finally the wedding of Grace Kelly's son, Prince Albert II of Monaco. On this occasion, inevitably comes to mind luxurious dress his mother.
When a few years ago an exhibition dedicated to Grace Kelly was brought to Moscow from Monaco, what struck me most was not her diamonds and handbags, but her wedding dress.
For me, it is the most elegant wedding dress I have ever seen.
By the way, this outfit ranks 5th in the ranking of the most expensive wedding dresses in the world and is estimated at $300,000.
It was created by MGM costume designer Helen Rose (1904 - 1985), who already dressed Grace in the films “The Swan”, “High Society” and others.
Helen Rose
The fact is that when Grace Kelly accepted Prince Rainier's proposal, she was still under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
At that time, MGM carefully and jealously monitored the image of its stars. Therefore, they even sewed and gave wedding dresses to the actresses: firstly, they looked appropriate, and secondly, it was excellent advertising.
The first dress I want to talk about is the dress for the wedding, which took place on April 19, 1956, at 9:30.
For Grace Kelly Rose's wedding dress, she used over twenty-five yards of silk taffeta, one hundred yards of silk mesh, and 125-year-old Brussels lace embroidered with sea pearls, and more than 30 people worked on this masterpiece over the course of 6 weeks. They say that the actress’s husband paid for the fabrics, and he even bought the Brussels lace from some museum.
The top of the dress appears to be seamless because the lace fragments were separated from the lace fabric and joined already at finished bodice(by the way, this is how they sew using this technology lace dresses, there is nothing unique here).
Helen Rose said that the dress should be: “...simple, but elegant, feminine, noble, and always royally majestic. And most importantly, the dress should not overshadow Grace’s beauty.”
The dress arrived in Monaco with assembly instructions.
The dress itself consists of 4 parts:
Lace bodice with sewn-in bodysuit and small crinoline;
Taffeta petticoats;
Head covers with headdress;
AND overskirt with tren.
Helen Rose sensibly believed that the dress should look as good from the back as it did from the front.
Instead of the usual tiara for princesses, the head was crowned with a “Juliet” headdress made of silk and lace, and the top was decorated with a wreath of orange blossom.
The bedspread was made of silk mesh, decorated with lace appliqués. Moreover, this was done delicately - so that Grace’s face could be seen through it.At the bride's request, the prayer book and shoes were also covered with lace.
The princess gave wedding dress The Art Museum of my native Philadelphia. They value it so much that they didn’t even allow it to be used for an exhibition dedicated to Grace Kelly. As a result, we saw his response. But even in this version it makes an indelible impression.
The bridesmaids' dresses were designed by another designer, Joe Allen Hong. Moreover, before that, he first won the competition for the best sketch.
Yellow was Grace Kelly's favorite color.
But there was another wedding dress, also by Rose.
Before the wedding, first in Monaco, on April 18, 1956, a civil wedding ceremony took place in the throne room of the palace. Grace wore an elegant pale pink taffeta dress covered with cream Alençon lace, white kid gloves and a “Juliet” hat.
For me, Grace Kelly remains the most sophisticated, aristocratic symbol of the 50s. When I was lucky enough to visit Monaco, I was surprised by what a toy state it is. Neat houses, beautiful flowering hedges, as if the streets have been washed with shampoo... Monte Ville (where Rainier's residence and the Cathedral are located) is reminiscent of the carefully executed scenery of the old European city. That’s why the Hollywood princess fit into them so organically, and even wore a costume created by a film professional to her wedding :-)
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/56621.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Kelly
