Posted in Grace Kelly, PEOPLE, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, Princess Grace (Grace Kelly), ROYALTY/NOBILITY, tagged biographies of royals, Grace Kelly, Grace of Monaco, Monaco, Monaco royal family, pictures of Grace Kelly, pictures of Prince Albert and sisters, pictures of Prince Albert as a baby, pictures of Prince Albert as a boy, pictures of Prince Albert as a child, pictures of Princess Grace, pictures of Princess Grace and Albert, Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock, Prince Albert and Princess Charlene, Prince Albert family pictures, Prince Albert of Monaco, Prince Albert's wedding, Princess Grace, the Grimaldis in pictures on July 2, 2011| 8 Comments »
Princess Grace of Monaco holds 2 of her children in this early 1960 photo: Princess Caroline, 3, and Prince Albert, 22 mos. Caroline and Albert were born 14 months apart.
Princess Grace, seated, and her husband, Prince Rainier III, pose for a family portrait with their 3 children: baby Princess Stephanie, Princess Caroline, and Prince Albert II. ca. 1965.
The Grimaldis smile for the camera: Prince Rainier holds Princess Stephanie with blue-eyed Prince Albert looking on from behind. Dark-haired beauty Princess Caroline flanks her mother, Princess Grace on our right. photo ca. 1967.
Prince Albert was adored by his mother, Princess Grace of Monaco. undated photo
READERS: For more on the Grimaldis of Monaco and the Royal Wedding, click here.
Posted in Grace Kelly, PEOPLE, Princess Grace (Grace Kelly), ROYALTY/NOBILITY, tagged biographies of actresses, biographies of royalty, Grace Kelly, Grace of Monaco, Hollywood, Monaco, Monaco royal family, Prince Rainier of Monaco, Princess Grace, royal wedding on January 8, 2011| 9 Comments »
On January 6, 1956, the long leading story on page one of the New York Times read:
The fairytale romance was front page news! It had captured the public imagination “to the point of intoxication.” (1) There was to be a wedding – a royal wedding ! It would be the “Wedding of the Century,” it was predicted.
Grace Patricia Kelly was an Academy-Award-winning actress and America’s #1 box office star. Prince Rainier was Europe‘s most eligible bachelor. It was a marriage made in heaven – it seemed. Behind the scenes, though, a rather down-to-earth business arrangement had preceded the finalizing of the engagement.
The public was swept away by such a whirlwind courtship. After all, Grace and the Prince barely knew one another. Just the previous May, the two had met at a Paris-Match publicity shoot at the Prince’s palace in Monaco. They had exchanged polite words, nothing more. But after that chance encounter, Rainier and Grace began a vigorous correspondence. For the next seven months, letter flew back and forth across the Atlantic.
The Royal Palace at Monaco
Over the course of time, Grace and Rainier discovered that they had much in common – their Roman Catholicism particularly and their dissatisfaction with their lives. Both were looking to get married and start a family.
Grace Kelly, Life magazine, ca. 1955.
The two were nothing more than pen pals when the Prince, his doctor, and his priest arrived at the home of Grace’s parents, Jack and Margaret Kelly, in Philadelphia on Christmas night, 1955. Grace had flown in from Hollywood for the special dinner visit. Bear in mind, Grace had not laid eyes on the Prince since the spring. Three days later, they were engaged, with Grace’s parents’ approval.
Before Rainier and Grace could officially announce their engagement, though, there were several obstacles to overcome – matters of state, as Grace was marrying into the House of Grimaldi. First, Grace had to submit to a physical exam to determine if she could bear children – heirs to the throne of Monaco. She passed the fertility test.
Secondly, it was the custom among the European aristocracy for the bride’s family to pay the groom a dowry. Jack Kelly, an Irish millionaire whose family was the cream of Philadelphia society, flew into a rage at the very idea. In the end, though, as the marriage of his daughter was thrown in jeopardy, he agreed to pay the Prince a dowry of $2 million.
Finally, Grace had to accept that, in the event of a divorce, any children of the marriage would remain in Monaco with their father.
(1) Glatt, John. The Royal House of Monaco. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Readers, for more on Grace Kelly on this blog, click here.
Posted in Grace Kelly, PEOPLE, Princess Grace (Grace Kelly), STAGE & SCREEN, tagged Alfred Hitchcock, biographies of actresses, biographies of women, bust inspector, Edith Head, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Grace of Monaco, Hollywood, Motion Pictures Production Code, Princess Grace, Rear Window on October 13, 2010| 6 Comments »
American movie actress Grace Kelly (1929-1982) had an encounter with a “Bust Inspector” during the production of the 1954 film Rear Window. However, this “BI” was not a censor dispatched by the Motion Pictures Production Code crew (See “Elizabeth Taylor and the Bust Inspector.”) The person attempting to meddle with Grace’s bust was none other than the film’s director: Alfred Hitchcock. Grace recalled:
“At the rehearsal for the scene in Rear Window when I wore a sheer nightgown, Hitchcock called for [Paramount costume designer] Edith Head. He came over here and said, ‘Look, the bosom is not right, we’re going to have to put something in there.’ He was very sweet about it; he didn’t want to upset me, so he spoke quietly to Edith.
When we went into my dressing room and Edith said, ‘Mr. Hitchcock is worried because there’s a false pleat here. He wants me to put in falsies.’ Well, I said, ‘You can’t put falsies in this, it’s going to show and I’m not going to wear them.’ And she said, ‘What are we going to do?’
So we quickly took it up here, made some adjustments there, and I just did what I could and stood as straight as possible – without falsies. When I walked out onto the set Hitchcock looked at me and at Edith and said, ‘See what a difference they make?'”
Grace Kelly wears a silky negligee in a movie still from the 1954 murder-mystery, “Rear Window.” Costume designer Edith Head recalled Kelly giggling upon spotting her reflection in the mirror. “Why, I look like a peach parfait!” she said.
Readers: For more on Grace Kelly (Princess Grace of Monaco), click here.
Posted in Edith Head, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, PEOPLE, Princess Grace (Grace Kelly), tagged biographies of actresses, biographies of women, Cartier, David Niven, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor marries Richard Burton picture, famous jewelry, Grace Kelly, Grace Kelly's wedding picture, Grace of Monaco, Liz Taylor, Monaco, pictures of Elizabeth Taylor, pictures of Grace Kelly, Prince Rainier, Princess Grace (Grace Kelly), Princess Grace's fortieth birthday party, Princess Grace's Scorpio party, Richard Burton, Rock Hudson, Scorpio Ball, the Grimaldis, the Krupp Diamond, the Taylor-Burton Diamond on May 2, 2010| 13 Comments »
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton tie the knot in Montreal on March, 1964.
Since they began their affair on the movie set of “Cleopatra” in January, 1962, Richard Burton delighted in giving bride Elizabeth Taylor extravagant jewels.
The Taylor-Burton Diamond
One of the most famous pieces Burton gave Taylor is the pear-shaped, 69.42 carat Taylor-Burton Diamond. Fifth husband Richard Burton bought the diamond from Cartier in 1969 after a Sotheby’s auction, paying over $1 million for it. Burton agreed to allow the jeweler to display the jewel for a limited period in New York and Chicago, beginning on November 1. Crowds of more than 6,000 a day circled the store’s Fifth Avenue shop in New York to “gawk at a diamond as big as the Ritz.”
Meanwhile, Taylor had Cartier remount the stone as a pendant suspended from a V-shaped necklace of graduated pear-shaped diamonds, mounted in platinum. Elizabeth admitted that even for her the Cartier Diamond – now called the Taylor-Burton Diamond – was too big to wear as a ring.
The Taylor-Burton Diamond hangs from a diamond necklace created by Cartier.
Elizabeth is no stranger to heavy rings. She wears the Krupp Diamond on her left hand almost every day and has worn it in most if not all of her films and TV appearances since she bought it in 1968 for $305,000. The stone weighs 33.19 carats.
The Krupp Diamond, Liz Taylor’s everyday ring
Elizabeth chose to debut the Taylor-Burton Diamond at Princess Grace of Monaco’s fortieth birthday bash at L’Hermitage in Monte Carlo. Princess Grace, formerly known as film star Grace Kelly (1929-1982), who would officially turn 40 on November 12, 1969, wanted to share this special occasion with sixty of her closest friends. Many of them were celebrities she knew from her film days like Rock Hudson, the Taylor-Burtons, and David and Hjordis Niven.
Film star Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco in Monte Carlo, April 1956 and becomes Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco.
Princess Grace’s invitations were designed like horoscopes and the party was to have a Scorpio theme – as that was Grace’s astrological sign. Grace was a lifelong believer in astrology, and often called a Hollywood astrologer for a personal daily horoscope. (1)
Princess Grace of Monaco (center) is flanked by her 2 sisters on the day of her fortieth birthday party. Monte Carlo, Monaco. November 15, 1969.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Taylor (b. 1932) planned her big entrance to Princess Grace’s party. Aside from choosing her wardrobe and hairstyle, she and Richard decided that the Taylor-Burton Diamond required more then ordinary security:
First, the diamond was flown from New York to Nice in the company of two security guards, who delivered it to Elizabeth Taylor and her husband aboard their yacht, the Kalizma. The Burtons were then escorted to the party with their security guards, who were armed with machine guns as added protection.” (2)
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor arrive at Princess Grace’s 40th birthday party, Monaco, November, 1969. Notice that Liz Taylor wears a robe in keeping with the party’s Scorpio theme, the Princess’s astrological sign. On her left hand she wears the Krupp Diamond. The necklace pendant is the Taylor-Burton Diamond. November, 1969 (“Bling-Bling, Bang-Bang: Elizabeth Taylor Attends Princess Grace’s Scorpio Ball,” Lisa’s History Room)
Princess Grace of Monaco with Richard Burton at her 40th birthday party, Monaco, November 1969
Princess Grace of Monaco, 1969
Although it was Grace’s birthday, Elizabeth Taylor clearly upstaged the princess, dazzling all the guests with her new jewel and her beauty. After the ball, Grace wrote friend Judy Balaban Quine that she found it hard to take her eyes off Elizabeth, whom she considered
Turning forty, added Grace, was equally unbearable. (1)
Richard Burton escorts wife Elizabeth Taylor to the April 1970 Academy Awards. Elizabeth wears the Taylor-Burton Diamond necklace and an Edith Head chiffon gown.
After the Taylor-Burton divorce in 1978, Elizabeth sold the diamond for $5 million, pledging to use part of the profit to build a hospital in Botswana (which, my mother tells me, blew away).
(1) Glatt, John. The Royal House of Monaco: Dynasty of Glamour, Tragedy, and Scandal. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
(2) Taylor, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.
Posted in Edith Head, Grace Kelly, PEOPLE, Princess Grace (Grace Kelly), tagged Alfred Hitchcock, biographies of actresses, biographies of royalty, biographies of women, Edith Head, Grace Kelly, Grace Kelly fashion, Grace Kelly in Rear Window, Grace Kelly Paris dress, Grace Kelly pictures, Grace of Monaco, London, Monaco, Rear Window, Victoria & Albert Museum on April 27, 2010| 8 Comments »
American actress Grace Kelly looks over her shoulder in Hollywood, California, March 1954. In April 1956, Kelly married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and became Her Serene Highness the Princess of Monaco. (“Grace Kelly: Floating on Chiffon,” Lisa’s History Room)
I was so excited to read in Vanity Fair that London’s Victoria & Albert Museum was featuring an exhibition of Grace Kelly‘s clothes. What a treat! I thought. Imagine all those beautiful 1950s dresses designed for actress Grace Kelly (1929-1982) together in one place. Of course I couldn’t get to London, I knew; I was recovering from spine surgery and we were building an addition to our house.
But what did that matter? I had my computer. With a few keystrokes and mouse clicks, I could cyber fashion stroll. I just assumed the V & A Museum would put the collection online as they had done with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert‘s jewelry collection. (See “Victoria & Albert: Art & Love & Teeth”)
I jumped to the museum website and found the exhibition: “Grace Kelly: Style Icon.” I got even happier after I read the promising blurb:
“Featuring dresses from her films including ‘High Society’ and ‘Rear Window,’ as well as the gown she wore to accept her Oscar in 1955, the display will examine Grace Kelly’s glamorous Hollywood image and enduring appeal.
It will also explore the evolution of her style as Princess Grace of Monaco, from the outfit she wore to her first meeting with Prince Rainier in 1955 to her haute couture gowns of the 1960s and ’70s by her favourite couturiers Dior, Balenciaga, Givenchy and Yves St Laurent.”
But much to my chagrin, I discovered that the exhibit is not posted online at the V & A. I was, at first, incredibly disappointed. In a mad haste, I scoured the Internet for images of the fashion display on newssites and blogs. I found a lot of articles but precious few images of the actual exhibit. But what I did find told a lot. To illustrate a point, here are two of those V & A showcase windows:
A mannequin displays the dress Grace Kelly wore in “The Swan.” (1956) The exhibit, “Grace Kelly: Style Icon,” is at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London from April 17- September 26, 2010
The exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, “Grace Kelly: Style Icon,” includes dresses worn by Grace Kelly after she became Princess Grace of Monaco in 1956.
Yawn. Pretty dry stuff, huh? Dresses on mannequins have no sparkle. What they needed was Grace Kelly.
Grace Kelly as Lisa Fremont in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller, “Rear Window.” (“Grace Kelly: Floating on Chiffon,” Lisa’s History Room)
So instead of trying to catalog for you all the dresses in the V & A, I have picked my personal favorite and shown it as worn by the eternally beautiful Grace Kelly. It is the Paris dress she wore as sophisticate Lisa Carol Fremont in the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock classic, “Rear Window.”
The dress with a fitted black bodice and deep V-cut bustline was designed for Kelly by Paramount Picture’s chief costume designer Edith Head. The full skirt falls to mid-calf, gathered and layered in white chiffon and tulle. From the nipped-in waist, a spray branch pattern falls playfully over the hip. Grace accessorized her high-fashion gown with white silk gloves, pearls, and a chiffon shoulder wrap.
To read the “Rear Window” script excerpt wherein “Lisa-Carol- Fremont” enters Jimmy Stewart‘s apartment wearing this outfit, click here.
Grace Kelly sits on steps in her “Paris” dress she wore in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 “Rear Window.” The gown had a light & airy quality with a slender waist and a beautiful skirt made from yards and yards of tulle and chiffon. The black and white confection was created by Paramount Pictures costume designer Edith Head. (“Grace Kelly: Floating on Chiffon,” Lisa’s History Room)
For more on Grace Kelly, click here.
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