High life
Fall from grace ,
Taki
Gstaad
0
leg Cassini, the fashion designer who lost Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier 40 years ago, is an old friend of mine. He and I have played a lot of tennis together, and many other things, and we've even talked about Grace, the only woman really to break his heart. Cassini has had lots of success with the fair sex — he was once married to the divine Gene Tierney — but he was never the same after la Kelly. Yet I have never heard him say a word against her. Against her family, yes; against Grace, never. Grace remained friends with Oleg, as she did with most of her past boyfriends.
Now, a new biography by a respected writer, Robert Lacey, is about to do a Kitty Kelley on poor Grace. She died in a car accident 12 years ago, but I predict that this opus will cause Prince Rainier almost as much grief as her death. It is a shame, in fact an outrage, and I don't believe any of the sexual stuff. The drinking, perhaps. The sex, never.
Lacey claims that Grace sought happi- ness in the arms of young lovers — and he allegedly identifies four of them. I can't wait. This is not character assassination of the worst kind, it is sleazy beyond compre- hension. Princess Grace, like most people, had her faults, but as far as the poor little Greek boy is concerned, her conduct as Monaco's reigning queen was irreproach- able. When I was married to my first wife, Grace and Rainier had us for dinner at their pink palace, and I had the opportuni- ty to see for myself. My instinct — and it's a good one on such matters — told me there was nothing going on. Grace took her position extremely seriously. She under- stood that Monaco was thought of by many as a joke, and spent her life trying to make the principality respectable. In this she succeeded.
Monaco makes Athens, the rumour capi- tal of Europe, look like a secret society by comparison. Yet during her lifetime I never once heard of anything approaching sexual shenanigans on her part. And, unlike Lacey and his sources, I was there, right in the middle of the rumour-monger- ing, in the glitzy salons of the new and old rich.
The Grimaldi family's scandals are too well known to be rehashed. Grace was known to take a drink or two towards the end of her life, but no one ever saw her drunk or misbehaving in public. The book claims she felt neglected by Rainier and sought solace in sex with young men; yes, sure, and the Ferguson family does not like money. Stephanie and Grace were squab- bling when the accident happened, but this we knew right away: so who hasn't fought with a mother or a daughter in a car? Grace tried like hell to stop Caroline from marrying Philippe Junot, and she turned out to be right. Albert is rumoured to be gay, but I'll bet my last devalued drachma that he's not. Anyway, I'd love to have some of the women he's had.
Her so-called voracious sexual appetite — according to Lacey — is easily explained. A product of the studio system of Fifties' Hollywood, Grace was perceived as the great ice queen by the American public. When the hucksters who run Amer- ica realised what riches sleaze generated, Grace became a target. After all, it was common knowledge to those in the know that Grace, a beautiful 25-year-old, had had affairs with many of her leading men. A devout Catholic upbringing and very strict parents may have contributed to her groupie-like behaviour with stars such as Bill Holden, Gary Cooper and Clark Gable. Not exactly an ugly bunch, either.
Once married, however, she reverted to type. She took her marriage vows as seri- ously as she did her position, and it's a cry- ing shame that people who need money will earn it by writing such rubbish. I can't wait to read the names of the 'men' who talked. I thought such 'men' were all hold- ing 'Go Juice' signs in Los Angeles.
Previous page
