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THE SCOPE OF THE
WEDDING CEREMONY
AND GRACE KELLY’S
INTERNATIONAL
PROFILE LAID THE
FOUNDATION FOR THE
HISTORY OF MONACO
AS A RECOGNIZABLE
BRAND, BOOSTING
ITS REPUTATION AS A
GLAMOROUS RESORT FOR
A LUXURY VACATION.
Grace Kelly and the Prince Rainier III in the gardens of Palais princier, Monaco
A
fter their first meeting, Grace and
Rainier began a long correspondence.
They managed to keep their love sto-
ry out of the press, until Rainier went to the
U.S. to see his future bride at Christmas.
The ceremony, held at St. Nicholas Cathe-
dral, was attended by 600 guests, includ-
ing Hollywood celebrities Ava Gardner,
Cary Grant and Gloria Swanson. The Greek
millionaire Aristotle Onassis was also seen
among the guests. About 30 million people
from different countries watched the wed-
ding ceremony.
Olivia de Havilland admitted that she was
not surprised by the news of their engage-
ment. However, she was annoyed that she
would not be able to attend the «wedding
of the century», since by that time she was
pregnant. The scope of this event and Grace Kelly’s
international profile laid the foundation for
the history of Monaco as a recognizable
brand, boosting its reputation as a glamor-
ous resort for a luxury vacation.
On April 19, 1956, that very wedding took
place, and got its name for a reason. This
mind- blowing day is still reverberating in
our minds, as the press has and continues
to meticulously scrutinize every detail of the
wedding ceremony. For instance, the icon-
ic dress of Grace Kelly, designed by Helen
Rose, was a gift to the actress from MGM,
the film studio she worked with. Today, it
belongs to the Art Museum of Philadelphia. Later, Grace’s and Olivia’s paths crossed only
once. It happened in one of the Parisian res-
taurants, when Grace had long been a Prin-
cess and arrived in the French capital with
her 10-year-old daughter Caroline. Leav-
ing the place, the Princess of Monaco ap-
proached Olivia’s table to greet the actress,
who had played a role as one of the initia-
tors of the love story between Prince Rainier
and Grace Kelly.
56 / Hello Monaco Winter 2019–2020
www.hellomonaco.com
THE MEETING THAT LED
TO THE «WEDDING OF THE
CENTURY»
Grace Kelly sitting beside a mirror, Palais princier, Monaco