Grace by Robert Lacey

Long before she became a princess, Grace Kelly was a legend, a fabled movie star whose aloof and aristocratic bearing belied a deep sensuality within. Grace the icon and Grace the woman were two very different creatures, and now celebrated biographer Robert Lacey has managed to unearth the secrets beneath her serene surface. In Grace, he presents the first balanced portrait of a complex, deeply conflicted actress, wife, and mother who dared to make her dreams come true. Lacey, who has written definitive books on Queen Elizabeth II, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Ford family, gained unprecedented access to Grace's friends and colleagues. He weaves an extraordinary story that begins in Philadelphia, where Grace's father, an Olympic athlete and local hero, often shunned his shy and sickly daughter. Grace was determined to win the attention of her father and the world. While carefully cultivating the image of the white-gloved young lady, she became a surprisingly brazen, even reckless, young woman. She fell into bed with her best friend's husband, her drama teacher, and some of the most glamorous film stars of her era, including Clark Gable and William Holden. By the time Grace met her prince, she had flirted repeatedly with the altar, only to have her parents veto her choices. Rainier, however, won over Grace and her family in a whirlwind courtship, cemented by a secret correspondence. Lacey writes of Grace's joy at her wedding and her gradual disenchantment with her cloistered palace life. He reveals that after ten years of marriage to Rainier, Grace was deeply wounded by his arrogance, petulance, and autocratic treatment of her. As she approached middle age, the princess foundherself living a separate life from Rainier in Paris, battling with her headstrong and willful daughters, and seeking the affection she craved from a succession of handsome young men. To her public, however, Grace always maintained the image of Her Serene Highness, the adored princess who had achieved perfect happiness. She worked hard at her official and charitable duties and was devoted to her people. Grace was deeply mourned when her car careened off a narrow road in September 1982. Lacey provides revealing new details about the accident and the circumstances surrounding Grace's medical care and death. Grace is a haunting tale of a beloved tragic heroine.