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The royal family
Original poster

Why did Grace Kelly marry Prince Rainier?

60 replies

ThymeafterThyme · 15/08/2021 11:02

She was a young, beautiful, talented actress at the peak of her career. Independently wealthy too.

It seems like she barely knew Rainier, they were like penpals.

She got to be a princess, but only a Serene Highness, and Monaco was a tiny principality held in low regard by other Western countries.

She looked utterly wretched on her wedding day - far more than Charlene did. I know what Grace Kelly did for Monaco but don't get what attraction it held for her.

OP posts:
ButYouGottaHaveASkillJeff · 15/08/2021 13:04

You've asked a question, people are answering - FOR LOVE. You don't appear to like that.

AngryWhompingWillow · 15/08/2021 13:08

@ShippingNews

She loved him, she made a great life for herself, had three children and never came near to divorce. Many people would envy her life !
Yep. Sounds like the OP is full of envy! Maybe she wishes SHE could bag a prince!
HeidiHoNeighbour · 15/08/2021 13:12

Years ago I had a circle of friends and one of those dated Princess Stephanie (she didn’t use her title)

We used to chat and obviously we would talk about everything and anything, she told me all she wanted in life was the true and pure love her parents had.

I think that answers your question.

Bonmonkhouse · 15/08/2021 13:13

I felt wretched on my wedding day. It's one day and it was stressful.

Saying that she doesn't look at all wretched. She looks radiantly happy.

Brimorion · 15/08/2021 13:17

@ShippingNews

She loved him, she made a great life for herself, had three children and never came near to divorce. Many people would envy her life !
I think it’s fairly widely acknowledged that her life in Monaco wasn’t particularly happy, though — stultifying traditions, a lot of scrutiny, and slightly mysterious last-minute reversal in her plan to return to acting (in Hitchcock’s Marnie) that reputedly came from the palace rather than Grace herself.
WhisperedWords · 15/08/2021 13:21

I’m sure there are many reasons but I have read, though it was a long time ago and the details might be a little off, that one of the reasons she did was to win the approval of her family especially her father. I think she was born into a wealthy Philadelphian family who had never approved of her being an actress and they very much encouraged the relationship. Rainier visited her and her family in the US and (I think) stayed with her family. They spent a lot of time together and it was after that he proposed and she accepted.

Hekatestorch · 15/08/2021 13:29

Can you be specific as to what about the photos makes her look wretched?

Original poster
ThymeafterThyme · 15/08/2021 13:31

Sounds like the OP is full of envy!

Gosh yes - you've got me sussed.

Grace's life in Monaco didn't appear happy though I think she found some fulfilment from her work with the ballet and the Red Cross.

In later life she gave poetry readings to alleviate her boredom. She had wanted to return to acting but wasn't allowed.

OP posts:
Original poster
ThymeafterThyme · 15/08/2021 13:33

We used to chat and obviously we would talk about everything and anything, she told me all she wanted in life was the true and pure love her parents had. I think that answers your question

I'd take that with a pinch of salt. Stephanie was pretty messed up. Albert too.

OP posts:
meadowbleu · 15/08/2021 13:35

Wedding photos don't tell a true story. Think of all the stress of being the bride in particular and then add the foreign cultural procedures and it being a state occasion publicised around the world and then add in the fact that some photos are just caught at unfortunate moments. When I look at some of Charlene and Albert's photos I believe she's a would-be runaway bride somehow forced into an unhappy marriage, but in other photos they both look relaxed and happy. In the photos from the civil ceremony the day before they certainly look that.

I think with royal to non royal marriages there's always some kind of transitional arrangement as the status quo of one party is changing for ever.

When they were just Grace and Ranier in their own private time, they could well have been well matched and very happy, add in all the possibly family pressure to achieve status and the difficulties of public life and there probably would have been trying times.

Original poster
ThymeafterThyme · 15/08/2021 13:38

@ButYouGottaHaveASkillJeff

You've asked a question, people are answering - FOR LOVE. You don't appear to like that.
No, I'm just musing. Feel free to press the hide button.
OP posts:
flapjackfairy · 15/08/2021 13:39

So you know better than Grace's daughter about the state of their marriage OP ?
Based on a couple of photos that only you consider show her looking wretched? Wow .

Original poster
ThymeafterThyme · 15/08/2021 13:43

The wedding ceremony was indeed one day but i get the impression royal life and marriage for Grace was not fulfilling.

Charlene on the other hand, hung around Monaco for years waiting for Albert to marry her. I think she believed she knew exactly what she was getting into but after a decade it's just got untenable.

OP posts:
meadowbleu · 15/08/2021 13:48

Got to admit my knowledge of the Monaco royal family is cursory at best, however, that's the big thing isn't it, what you perceive and think you know going in to a situation as against daily and lifelong reality.

Sittingonabench · 15/08/2021 14:36

All of the rosiness and shine you talk about - her having an amazing career, being beautiful and wealthy all sounds great but does not equate to happiness particularly in Hollywood in that era. It was more likely to equate to constant sexual harassment, infighting, politics and waiting for people and the media to tear you down. Maybe she wanted a different life where she could find peace and believed he could provide her with that opportunity and that she loved him and liked him enough to build a life and a family. Nobody’s life is perfect and boredom and monotony comes and goes. She may well have looked back at her life and been grateful, and sometimes she might have been regretful, just like everyone else.

hahahayoumustbejoking · 15/08/2021 14:58

Do you know the family personally? Met any of them? You sound like you think you're very informed, even disagreeing with someone who knows her daughter.

Original poster
ThymeafterThyme · 15/08/2021 15:53

You sound like you think you're very informed, even disagreeing with someone who knows her daughter

Well, we only have an anonymous poster's word that she knows Stephanie. I take that with a pinch of salt.

OP posts:
AngryWhompingWillow · 15/08/2021 16:12

@ThymeafterThyme

Well, we only have an anonymous poster's word that she knows Stephanie. I take that with a pinch of salt.

SO you don't believe that poster who says she knows Princess Stephanie, but you expect people to buy all the dross and drivel YOU are blarting about Princess Grace?

LOL. You get more ridiculous each time you post.

@hahahayoumustbejoking

Do you know the family personally? Met any of them? You sound like you think you're very informed, even disagreeing with someone who knows her daughter.

The OP knows naff-all about Grace Kelly OR her marriage to Prince Rainier. She just wants to paint an image of an unhappy 'WRETCHED' woman, and is telling anyone who disagrees or challenges her, to hide the thread.

That's not how message forums work! Hmm

As I said, I have no idea why the OP wants to present Grace as an unhappy woman, and I can only put it down to jealousy.

thecatsthecats · 15/08/2021 17:59

Hollywood was and is an industry that treats its talent brutally.

When you read about the stories of old Hollywood (Judy Garland, anyone?) I wouldn't blame any woman who ran a country mile from it into a life of privilege.

GintyMcGinty · 15/08/2021 18:02

Love? Maybe but she barely knew him. She gave up so much and I don't see what she got in return. Nothing she couldn't have found in her homeland.

It was 1956. Pretty much ALL women gave up careers and independence on marriage.

Original poster
ThymeafterThyme · 15/08/2021 23:58

Crikey you are an angry Whomping Willow, aren't you?

OP posts:
ButYouGottaHaveASkillJeff · 16/08/2021 08:39

@ThymeafterThyme hide the thread and miss out on your hilarious responses? No way!

latesummerdays · 16/08/2021 08:49

I know nothing about any of this but I’m finding it an interesting thread apart from the posters hellbent on wrecking it Hmm

Original poster
ThymeafterThyme · 16/08/2021 10:34

@latesummerdays

I know nothing about any of this but I’m finding it an interesting thread apart from the posters hellbent on wrecking it Hmm
I know, it's bizarre that a few are getting so incensed and making personal attacks. Grace Kelly was a public figure her entire life - she chose to be by becoming an actress and a princess.

It's perfectly natural to be interested in someone's life choices and I've appreciated the measured responses. Maybe she saw a marriage to a high profile Catholic spouse as a way to escape the toxic environment of Hollywood and give her life purpose.

Her relationship with Rainier was as complex as her relationship with her 3 children. She was an authoritarian parent who, by her own admission, punished them physically.

OP posts:
Maireas · 16/08/2021 16:32

I would recommend "Once Upon a Time" by J. Randy Tarraborelli.
It's a good read, Rainier was looking for a bride who would put Monaco on the map, Grace was looking for a husband with status. It's a complex story, but fascinating.