True Grace
Grace Kelly remains one of the true icons of the 20th century, famed for both her beauty and her creativity. Wendy Leigh’s ( the writer is the co-author on Christopher Ciccone’s recent book Life with my Sister Madonna) biography, True Grace, takes an in-depth look into the psyche of the star: actress, princess and wife. Concentrating on the intricacies of her private life, we learn of her troubled relationship with her father, her miscarriages, repression, affairs ( the book reveals for the first time of her affair with actor David Niven ) and the infidelities that she endured throughout her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Leigh’s Grace is a selfless woman, who, at the height of her acting career, chose to give everything up for love. Embarking on a spectacular voyage to Monaco, Grace bids farewell to her beloved homeland and her American identity, which proves difficult to regain in years to come. Her new life begins agreeably, the palace brimming with servants and the option to have anything she desires. Being a glamorous star, Grace initially enjoys her newfound luxurious lifestyle and doesn’t appear to regret her decision to relinquish her acting by marrying the prince.
However, she quickly learns to despise palace life and resent the backward Monaco traditions which forbid her from exercising so many basic rights.
Grace, once a vivacious, confident Hollywood star, becomes morose and introverted, longing for Hollywood and the things and people that she loved so dearly. Her lament contrasts greatly with Rainier’s personal feelings: negative and distrusting of her past life, most probably spurred on by jealously. Tradition, coupled with Rainier’s blatant misogynism make it increasingly difficult for Grace to continue acting. What’s more, Monaco custom also decrees that in the event of divorce or separation, Grace must leave her children behind with their father.
In addition to this repression, Rainier’s constant infidelity is common knowledge throughout the principality, and Grace is forced to turn a blind eye. Fed-up with her husband’s betrayals, she embarks on a series of her own affairs, including a brief romance with Frank Sinatra and affairs with Gary Cooper and Tony Curtis.But not once do we feel disappointment in the princess’s behaviour, but instead genuinely pity her.
But despite Grace’s sadness and disappointments Leigh’s portrayal is at the same time one of a doting wife and mother. Despite experiencing boredom and misery once leaving Hollywood, Kelly still achieved great things and became committed to various charitable contributions causes.
A tragic end to a talented life, Grace Kelly died in a car crash in 1982: she claimed to have experienced a premonition of her death some time before. It seems as though Grace had depth and intuition, qualities that we would not ordinarily associate with a Hollywood actress.
However, as Leigh’s novel suggests, Grace Kelly was no ordinary film star.
April Welsh
Wendy Leigh – True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess £7.99 Published by JR Books Ltd
www.jrbooks.com
