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Grace Kelly was an American actress who married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956. Despite a short career of only six years, she was one of Hollywood’s greatest stars, rising to stardom in the early 50s, the actress was nominated for several Academy Awards and won the prestigious Best Actress award for her performance in ‘The Country Girl’ in 1954. When the Prince of Monaco asked her to marry him, he initially presented her with an eternity band, before an opportunity arose to gift Grace a second diamond engagement ring said to be worth £30million.
During the spring of 1955 at the Cannes Film Festival, Grace met her soon-to-be fiancé, Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
The actress was at the Film Festival to promote To Catch a Thief when the Prince heard about her attendance and arranged a photo opportunity at his home as a way to meet the actress.
For the meeting, Grace wore a stylist floral-print dress and is reported to have remarked that he was “a very charming man”.
The months following saw the pair stay in touch, exchanging letters over several months and developing a romantic relationship. Finally, when he visited Kelly in her hometown of Philadelphia that Christmas, he asked her to marry him.
The newly-engaged couple held a press conference in her family’s home and the actress showed off her engagement ring for the first time – but it wasn’t the ring that Grace Kelly became known for.
The engagement ring on her finger during the press conference was an eternity band set with rubies and diamonds and was reportedly a placeholder for her real engagement ring.
The ring designed by Cartier was reportedly created using family heirlooms and the colours were intended as a homage to his home country’s flag (red and white).
The ring was described in the Philadelphia Inquirer as “a handsome engagement ring, which the Prince had ordered fashioned from two family heirlooms, in the form of a diamond circlet and ruby circlet intertwined”.
It wasn’t until Grace filmed High Society that her second engagement ring was seen. The movie was to be the last that Grace would star in before she retired and moved to Monaco.
The Prince had heard the costume designer was going to source a fake ring for Kelly’s character when he offered to buy his wife-to-be a real ring which could also be her second engagement ring.
Grace’s second engagement ring was a 10.48-carat Cartier emerald-cut engagement ring, flanked by two baguette-cut side stones.
It has since become one of the most iconic engagement rings, set to be worth £30million according to Steven Stone’s diamond expert Max Stone.
As for how it compares to Grace’s first ring, the ring with two family heirlooms is said to be valued at £15,000.
The following year, Grace Prince Rainier had two weddings; the first was a private civil ceremony for which Grace wore an embroidered light pink skirt suit and a Juliet cap.
The second wedding was a religious wedding that the whole world witnessed, and Grace’s dress is one of the most famous, most iconic wedding dresses ever which has gone on to inspire the likes of the Duchess of Cambridge and Lady Kitty Spencer’s dresses decades after.
Grace’s second wedding dress was designed by American costume designer Helen Rose and featured a high-neck, long-sleeved bodice and a long, billowing skirt with a 10-and-a-half-foot-long train.
The gown was also covered in lace, taffeta, and thousands of hand-sewn pearls.
In terms of Grace and Prince Rainier’s relationship, they enjoyed a 26-year marriage and had three children together, Stephanie, Caroline, and Albert II.
In 1982, Grace suffered a stroke that resulted in a car accident and led to her death at the age of 52.
Her memory lives on through her films, children, and iconic engagement rings – both of which remain in the House of Grimaldi.
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