by Thilo Wydra
It was about 1:30 p.m.
A palace spokesperson—presumably an inexperienced one who had taken over the duties during the summer when the palace was closed and the royal family was on vacation or at Roc Agel—sent out a communiqué that explained that Princess Gracia had broken her leg and suffered from a few minor, external injuries and was being treated in a hospital. A seemingly innocent communiqué that initially did not upset anyone. Not even the Kellys in the United States. A broken leg and a few scratches do not imply a life or death situation. However, this was exactly the situation Grace was in from the moment the Rover crashed through the guardrail. These were circumstances that were hopeless from the very beginning. Later, the palace communiqué and other statements gave rise to the speculations. Why did someone let this go out when the information was so far from the actual truth? The answer may be, in part, that for a long while the supervising physicians did not inform the family and the palace about the seriousness of the situation. Thus, at the time that the communiqué was drafted, it could be that no one knew anything more.
The night between September 13 and 14 is a night of uncertainty, a night of trepidation and hope for one husband, Prince Rainier III, and his two children, son Albert and daughter Caroline. The third and youngest child, Stéphanie, is completely unaware of this. She is in the hospital, suffering from a serious vertebrae injury and concussion, and Rainier wishes to spare her the shock. It is several days later when she first learns the full measure of the tragedy. Only after the burial, in the company of her family, will she be taken to the grave of her mother in St. Nicholas Cathedral.
According to Nadia LaCoste, “At first, Stéphanie did not know that her mother had died. It was kept a secret from her while she was in the hospital. After all, they had been given different rooms. The doctors thought that she should first be informed when she was better able to cope with the situation. I still recall how it was of utmost importance that Stéphanie should know nothing. That was the primary concern. She should have every opportunity to get better . . .”432
On the next day, neither the Monegasque people, nor the world at large, know exactly what has happened to the princess.
Now the doctors finally share with Prince Rainier how things truly stand with his wife. They had operated on her the day before, opening her chest cavity as well as the abdominal wall. The bleeding from her head wound is very heavy. Her brain damage is serious and permanent. The electroencephalogram to which she is connected and which is measuring her brain waves has, over the course of the day, indicated no brain function. She lies in a coma from which she will never awake. Since 6:00 a.m., she has been, for all intents and purposes, clinically dead. There is no hope.
At this point, the brain damage that could be seen on the scanner images was too serious and extensive. In addition, most of the spots were inoperable. The primary problems were the cerebral bleeding and a contusion to the frontal lobe, as well as bleeding behind the right side of the brain. Even if she were, contrary to expectations, to wake up from the coma, in all likelihood, she would lack almost all mental capabilities.
The family comes to bid farewell. After son Albert and daughter Caroline have said their good-byes, Rainier stays behind, alone with his wife. They had spent twenty-six years together. At noon, Rainier gives the doctors permission to turn off the life support machines, which have until now kept his wife’s body functioning. It is a difficult decision in a lonely hour.
On September 14, 1982, at 10:35 p.m., the actress Grace Kelly, the Princess of Monaco, Gracia Patricia, dies. At the age of fifty-two, she is much too young.
Only at this point does the world learn of what has occurred.
Interrupting her vacation in Germany, Monaco’s longtime palace press chief Nadia LaCoste left her husband behind and returned straightaway to Monaco: “I was on vacation when I heard—I simply could not believe it!”433
And now LaCoste had to provide her press office with palace communiqués for the hosts of international journalists, reporters, photographers, and television teams that arrived in the principality: “I still remember how the newspaper reporters tried to climb into my office through a window. My press office was located above the park between the casino and the tourist information bureau. On the park side, the windows were protected by tall bars. They were really pretty high. They tried to climb over them because they wanted to get into my office. It was unbelievable how many of them were over there in the park. Each time, whenever there was something to announce, I went outside and simply shared it with them. It was a nightmare . . .”434
Parallel to these developments, Robert Dornhelm had already left Monaco after the weekend he had spent at Roc Agel. “We had made off to meet on the day of her death. At her place in Paris.”435 On Tuesday, September 14.
On Monday, September 13, he had waited for a sign from Grace. No calls. No news. Nothing.
“I waited on her. That evening, the call came through that she had been in an accident. That she had broken her leg, but everything was in order and under control. It was the secretary from one castle or another. Then six hours later, in the middle of the night, a phone call from America woke me up. At first, I was irritated. It was a friend, Bram Roos, the producer of the planned Wallenberg film: ‘I am so very sorry, and it is so awful, and I don’t know how to tell you.’ And I said: ‘What?’ ‘About Grace.’ ‘Yes, I know that she broke her leg.’ ‘No, oh God, she’s dead.’ Then I said: ‘I hate the American media. How can you say that to a friend?! She hasn’t died. She broke her leg.’ ‘Wake up.’ I did not want to believe this. Then he said: ‘No, it was in all the media, in all the news, it is everywhere. They could not show that if it weren’t true.’ I said: ‘It can’t possibly be true. I wanted to meet her tomorrow.’”436
The fact that all of these rumors circulated in the immediate aftermath of the tragic event resulted in a difficult existential burden that has accompanied the Grimaldis ever since. As Nadia LaCoste argued, “In a certain sense, it is easy to say: ‘She did this and that, and therefore, she lost control of the car.’ No, the actual wonder is that Stéphanie survived at all.”437
On a related note, Thomas Veszelits provided commentary: “Grace Kelly’s death is no mystery. A mystery arose from it—just as it did with Lady Di. An accident is always something incomprehensible. If she had died of cancer, that would have been an entirely normal death. However, these accidents. There again as the fatal parallel to Lady Di—again, an accident. Was the driver drunk? Did he drive too fast? Did he have to flee from the paparazzi? After Grace Kelly’s fatal accident, it was just as inexplicable. And why did the brakes fail? There were rumors at that time that Rainier was being blackmailed by the Mafia. These pre-dated the accident, but then suddenly they escalated. There are things that simply cannot be fathomed. There are these three great mysteries: John F. Kennedy’s murder, Grace Kelly’s accident, Lady Di’s accident. The amazing thing is that these three individuals set television records. Television was still in its infancy, so Kennedy’s burial, which was aired worldwide, became the first great media event of its kind. The second great media event was the burial of Grace Kelly that was aired from the cathedral in Monaco. The third was finally Lady Di’s in 1997.”438
And further: “She was simply hungover. They had drunk, as they always did on those weekends, and this time they had also argued because Stéphanie wanted to suddenly become a racecar driver, thanks to the Belmondo son. The Princess never saw that curve. Furthermore, she was a verifiably bad driver. If you overlook these hairpin curves, there is simply nothing you can do about it anymore. It happened with lightning speed. At that time, the curve was also not secured. The guardrail was only two iron posts and some stone blocks, and to come across them—it was simply and plainly an accident due to the residual effects of alcohol. This conjecture builds on the police report: no blood test was ever performed. Normally, even during the 1980s, blood tests were done after accidents. Although the accident took place on French s
oil, because it was the Princess, the police from Monaco were immediately there. They sent the French home and said that they themselves would take care of things. Furthermore, the wrecked car rested on Monegasque soil, in that garden. It was also claimed that the brakes failed. This information was contained in the first protocol. The accident investigation by Rover, the English company, also indicated that. Of course, it must have terrified the Princess when the brakes failed in that car. The first press releases gave brake failure as the cause of the accident. That is what was written in the first police report.”439
The discrepancy between the details contained in the police investigative report and the various witness accounts continue to perplex today.
Nothing can be substantiated.
The discussion about whether or not Grace Kelly would have hypothetically allowed her daughter Stéphanie to drive has not yet vanished, even today, regardless of the official assertion that Grace was in the driver’s seat. It is known that at Roc Agel, Rainier and Grace permitted daughter Stéphanie to drive the few yards between the yard and the driveway. However, Stéphanie was not allowed to drive outside of the property.
As Thomas Veszelits said, “It is proven that there was no change in the driver. Stéphanie herself was injured, so it was not possible to change places. She was not driving. She denied that numerous times, choosing to personally speak about it. The media and the press hyped this up too much.”440
And Rolf Palm explained: “Over the previous years, Grace Kelly had undergone intense cortisone treatments. Cortisone has various side effects. In this case, it was cerebral apoplexy, an aneurysm. A vein burst in her head. This was also not the first car that had fallen off the cliff. The gardener’s first reaction was: ‘What? Again?’” And further: “Grace was not the type to have permitted that. Based on purely psychological reasons and on her character, it is totally impossible that she allowed Stéphanie to drive the car. Grace would have never let that happen.”441
Nadia LaCoste concurred with this: “She would never have let Stéphanie take the wheel. In addition, she was much too upset. If they had wanted to teach Stéphanie to drive, she would never have done that on this road. And the dreadful thing was that she herself should not have been driving. But she wanted to go to Paris, and she had the dresses from Roc Agel that she wanted to take back to Monaco. She had those packed on the back seat, and she told the driver: ‘I will drive down myself. Come with the other car.’ So that the clothes could be stored nicely, she drove. On the drive up [before the weekend], the palace chauffeur had driven. Normally, they would not have been driving themselves. She did not like to drive at all. Thus, you can talk of fate . . .”442 In addition, “I never read anything about a stroke. And I never heard of one. At the time, I talked with the doctors, and none of them mentioned anything like that. It was caused by the accident.”443
“What changed in reality? Absolutely nothing. She is dead. She was truly a devoted mother, a mother who sacrificed herself for her children.”444
In the chapel of the Prince’s Palace, high on a rocky point, Gracia Patricia’s open coffin, surrounded by candles and countless white flowers and watched over by two palace guards, is visited by countless people who wish to have one last look at her. They have come to say farewell to their princess, the mother of their country. It is also a farewell to a legendary actress and beauty icon.
A longtime palace merchant was quoted, saying quite poetically, “She is physically not here, but she lives among us.”445
She was laid out for three days, September 15–17. Since her head had been shaved in the hospital for the CT scans and for any potential brain surgeries, an artificial blonde wig covered her head. It also helped to conceal her serious head wound. Her appearance, with the wig (which was pulled too far down on her forehead) disconcerted her siblings and her former bridesmaids, Judith, Rita, Maree, and others. A rosary was clasped in her folded hands. She was wearing a long silk dress, the pale Dior ball gown that had been on the backseat of the Rover on the day of the accident.
On September 18, the coffin is ceremoniously carried several hundred yards to the Notre-Dame-Immaculée Cathedral, Saint Nicholas, and at regular intervals, a bell sounds a single tone. This solemn sound echoes through the streets, landing heavily upon the slow, advancing funeral procession.
Rainier followed the casket, flanked by Albert and Caroline. His gait slightly resembled a ponderous stagger. An indescribable weight rested across everything. It was an image of a visibly grief-stricken man. As Robert Dornhelm remembered, “Rainier was a broken man. The pictures that you see—they are truly distressing, and they speak volumes.”446 Those pictures of the father and two of his children—also the way in which they sat together as a trio in the cathedral in front of her casket. Rainier repeatedly reached for his handkerchief, and once Caroline laid her hand on his arm, and he briefly looked over at her. These pictures traveled around the world and were burned into collective memory.
Approximately 100 million people around the world sat in front of their television screens. To date, this was one of the largest audiences ever. This was the onset of a kind of worldwide mourning and empathy. A global phenomenon.
Among the eight hundred invited funeral guests were included dignitaries from around the world, including Nancy Reagan, Danielle Mitterrand, and Princess Diana. Politicians and members of the upper aristocracy, many of whom had remained absent from the 1956 wedding, much to Rainier’s chagrin. The salvaging of Monaco’s once tarnished reputation by Grace Kelly was made clear once more at her own funeral: “It was a ceremonial act, an official goodbye.”447 Longtime friends arrived, such as the deeply shaken Cary Grant and Sam Spiegel as well as her friends from America, her former bridesmaids. Once again they stayed in the Hôtel de Paris. And some of her family came, the Kellys of Philadelphia: Grace’s sisters, Peggy and Lizanne, and their brother, Kell. Seven years before, in 1975, mother Margaret Majer-Kelly had suffered a serious stroke, and since that time, she had been mentally incapacitated. Never, even up to her death in January 1990, did she ever register the fact that her world-renowned daughter had died. None of them wanted to believe that Grace, their little Gracie, was dead. Disbelief and paralysis were widespread.
“It was not real to me,” related Robert Dornhelm.448 After receiving the news in Paris, he traveled to Nice, and like most of the funeral guests, he was flown from there by helicopter to the heliport in Monaco.
In accord with Rainier’s wish, on September 21, Gracia Patricia of Monaco was laid to rest in the cathedral choir. She was the first princess to be buried there.
Stéphanie did not attend the burial, since at this time she was still in the hospital in a plaster cast. Paul Belmondo was with her. She had to live with the knowledge that not only was her mother dead but she, Stéphanie, would not have the opportunity to say farewell to her. It was doubly traumatic.
And then the haunting questions arose. Could the events have happened other than they did? Could Grace have taken the clothes at another time so that Christian Silvestri could have driven the car? As Nadia LaCoste commented, “It was dreadful, but such is fate. She could have laid the clothes out and said: ‘Alright, tomorrow we will send another car for them . . .’”449 The torturous “what if” questions would haunt Grace’s family and friends for many years.
Born on February 1, 1965, as the youngest of the three children, Princess Stéphanie of Monaco was only seventeen years old at the time of the accident, and for many years, she seemed to lack inner peace. Her numerous, mostly unhappy romantic relationships seem to point to this. Also, her repeated attempts to establish herself in the creative-artistic realm have, in the end, never lasted. She worked in fashion; she designed her own swimsuit collection; she worked for Dior; she worked as a model.
She also tried to become a pop singer, recording the album Ouragan in 1986. The LP actually landed on the international top ten list. With the album’s catchy single “Irrésistible,” she made it onto the charts of sev
eral European countries. In France, the song stayed on the charts for twenty-nine weeks; in Germany, it lasted for eighteen weeks. One other song from the album, “One Love to Give,” also climbed the hit charts. In 1991, she released a second, not nearly as successful album under the simple title, Stéphanie. That year, she also recorded the song “In the Closet” with Michael Jackson, which was included on his album Dangerous.
In recent years, Prince Stéphanie has engaged in the fight against AIDS; she established the Fight AIDS Monaco organization, of which she is president. In the context of this work, she contributed to the 2006 benefit song “L’or de nos vies,” the proceeds of which were given to the Monegasque foundation.
The fateful events of that September day in 1982 have been with her ever since.
Again and again, in connection with the death of Grace Kelly and the repercussions suffered by Princess Stéphanie—as well as in reference to her father, Prince Rainier, who lived alone as a widower until his death in April 2005, choosing not to remarry—the Grimaldi curse is mentioned. The curse that first appeared in the late thirteenth century.
Robert Dornhelm had the following to say about Grace Kelly’s death: “I marveled at the fact she went so young, but actually I was not really surprised. Because of the fear that what she stood for, what she had done, would become watered down. For her to become an old woman, living unhappily in the castle and possibly becoming bitter and unfulfilled, that would not have suited her. She was a star, in the sense that she always absorbed the light that shone on her and in turn, she glowed back. The fact that she died so young fits well with the myth. Although she always joked that once she was old she could finally ride the Métro without being recognized, the issue of growing old was only talk. I never really believed that it would happen. It was part of her romanticism to imagine being someone else.”450
Only seven weeks before her unexpected death on July 22, 1982, Princess Grace gave her final interview. She sat outside in the garden palace and talked for an hour with journalist Pierre Salinger. The interview was for 20/20 on ABC.