Grace of Monaco: The True Story

by Jeffrey Robinson

The acclaimed biography by Jeffrey Robinson, now revised and updated to coincide with the major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman as Princess Grace.

It was one of the most famous romances of the 20th century—Europe’s most eligible bachelor, Prince Rainier of Monaco, and America’s most beautiful movie star, the Academy Award-winning actress Grace Kelly, fell in love against the backdrop of the closest thing the modern world has to a magical kingdom, the French Riviera’s Principality of Monaco.

Told with affection and humor, and written with the unprecedented cooperation of Prince Rainier III and his children, Prince Albert, Princess Caroline, and Princess Stephanie, Grace of Monaco takes readers beneath the surface glitz and the glamour of Monte Carlo for a never-to-be-forgotten portrait of the House of Grimaldi. 

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Royalty, History

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2013

Reviews

[Jane Gardner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry, but the English teacher in me had trouble with this one. I love love love biographies, but to me, a biography should be largely about the subject. This book just wandered all over the place, with entire chapters on the history of Monaco, the history of the Grimaldi family, and many other topics that could have been condensed into a few paragraphs. The thing that drove me really crazy was how the author jumped between time periods. For instance, he talked about what happened AFTER Grace's death before covering her death. These things might not bother most people, but they definitely bothered me! The last 50 pages were about the prince's last years. Again, I thought this was a biography of Grace Kelly? Probably 60-70% of it was about other people/places. Disappointing!

[Leslie Goddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great example of how different a biography of a famous person is when it’s written by someone who has interviewed those closest to her. Yes, sometimes it feels like he’s bragging a bit about how well he knows Caroline (“I offered to bring her food when she was staying at an English spa!”) and the other Grimaldis.

Still, what emerges here is a much more truthful human Grace. She felt to me like a much more real person than is typical in most of her biographies.

I enjoyed this book infinitely more than the movie made from it precisely because here she felt like real human being and in the movie she felt like a character.

I do agree with those who say it’s not really a biography of Princess Grace — it’s a biography of Grace and her husband and children. Obviously, the Grimaldis are intimately connected to her story, but still, one of my pet peeves with publishers is that they constantly give books inaccurate and misleading titles. The title implies it will be just a biography of Grace and it’s really not.

[Mariagcri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stelline
Un po'troppo di parte visto l'amicizia che legava l'autore alla famiglia Grimaldi, si tende a "santificare" un po'tutta la famiglia,poca obiettivita a mio parere ma comunque piacevole.

[Marisa Fernandes · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Grace de Mónaco" trata-se de uma biografia sobre a princesa Grace, que também foi Grace Kelly, modelo e actriz norte-americana descendente de pai irlandês e mãe alemã. Jeffrey Robinson limitou-se a contar a verdade sobre a sua vida (respeitando o apelo de Rainier e, portanto, a biografia é oficial), ajudado pelos relatos de Rainier e dos filhos Carolina, Alberto e Stéphanie, bem como por várias outras celebridades e não celebridades que com ela privaram de algum modo.

A obra permite-nos conhecer não só a vida da princesa Grace, antes de se casar com Rainier e durante o tempo em que viveu já casada com ele, como também a vida deste (antes e depois de se casar), dos três filhos e ainda do próprio Mónaco e do papel que o casal teve no desenvolvimento daquilo que o principiado é actualmente.

Em termos de estrutura, "Grace de Mónaco" é uma obra dinâmica, na medida em que o seu autor alterna capítulos da vida da familia real com capítulos sobre a História, a Política e os negócios do Mónaco, o que a torna, na minha perspectiva, muitissimo interessante e justifica a sua recomendação a todos os interessados por Grace e a familia real do Mónaco e/ou a todos os interessados pela História do Mónaco.

*
"O principiado do Mónaco da juventude de Rainier era um lugar sombrio que vivia da glória de uma idade de ouro há muito perdida no tempo. Tudo mudou quando ele conheceu, se apaixonou e se casou com Grace Kelly. Grace deu vida à Riviera como só um ícone do cinema seria capaz. Com os seus amigos de Hollywood, formou um elenco de personagens que devolveu a Monte Carlo a fama de destino mais glamoroso do mundo. (...)" (p.343)

[Carolina Morales · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to give this book two stars, however, it would not be fair to many novels I have read whose did deserve two stars.

The approach to the Kelly and Grimaldi families is really Page Six-like, a mid ground between gossip magazine and fairy tale phony text. They are not represented as human beings but archetypical characters of a badly written soapy reality show.

Grace Kelly is present almost exclusively on the title. All members of the extended family are referred to more often than her - Rainier, Caroline, Albert, Stéphanie and even Antoinette, Onassis, Frank Sinatra and Maria Callas are more quoted than the Princess of Monaco.

This will be my last book by Jeffrey Robinson, I am sure of this.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I put this on my "To Read" list in November 2013.

The reviews were spectacular.

This book was delayed in publication so many times that I lost count.

I finally got it, only to discover that it is a remake of a book originally published by Robinson called "Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait, and published in 1989!

The remake is NEVER as good as the original. I wasn't seeing that much "new" information -- a forward by Nicole Kidman, etc.

Extremely disappointed!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

#54 of 120 books pledged to read during 2019

I was disappointed in this book. It seemed to be more a history of Monaco and its government than about Princess Grace, but parts of the book were interesting.

[Simone Korkievicz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muito de Mônaco. Pouco de Grace.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

real rating is more 4.5
This book was gorgeous. It was the reality beneath the fairy tale. I was captivated from page one. I found it so interesting, and I learned so much about of the Principality of Monaco. The only issue I had with this was the chapters that sometimes jumped all over the place. It wasn't too bad and it was a minor problem that likely won't prevent me from rereading and recommending this book.

[Thais Lourenço · Rating 3 out of 5]

O livro não é sobre Grace, mas sobre a família de Mônaco. #pegadinha

[Rae Othersomething · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're going to call a book 'Grace of Monaco', I'd suggest it should be about Grace of Monaco. This would have been more aptly titled 'Rainier of Monaco, his children, and some general Monaco history'. The book itself was fine - a bit plodding and self aware, sure, but it depicted Monaco beautifully and gave great insight into its history. With a less misleading title I'd have given it a three.

One more gripe for the day - why on earth put Nicole Kidman on the cover? It's not like Grace lived before the invention of the camera. There are hundreds of stunning photos of the lady herself.

Ok. Done.

[Beb ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grace ha sempre avuto quell'aurea meravigliosa attorno a sè che io non facevo altro che ammirare. All'uscita del film ho deciso di prendere prima il libro che parlava della sua vita, perché volevo conoscerla meglio. Purtroppo per anni è stato sulla mia libreria, ma finalmente ho avuto occasione di leggerlo grazie al gruppo Lo Scaffale Tematico e ne sono stata felicissima. Questa biografia non racconta soltanto la vita di Grace, ma anche quella di Ranieri, di Alberto, di Caterina e di Stefania. E io ho adorato questa piccola ma grande famiglia reale.

Leggi di più: http://lalibreriadibeb.blogspot.com/2...

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interviews with Prince Rainier and his children were very interesting and author has clearly spent a lot of time in Monaco and immersed himself in the history of the region. However, the book was quite unstructured, chapters about the history of Monaco or scenes of daily life there were dropped in the middle of the chronology, seemingly at random. The book would be improved by discussing events in order and placing the historical context about Monaco all in one chapter.

[Thalita Oliveira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conheci a história de Grace, seu marido e filhos, e como eles são em família. Uma biografia que me surpreendeu e partir disso, gostaria de assistir seus filmes e ver sua magia no cinema. O que ficou para mim, é que ela foi uma grande atriz, princesa, ícone, e uma ótima mãe e esposa. Muito emocionante de ler para conhecê-la.

[Becki]

I quit this book midway through chapter 9. It was annoying to me that it wasn't chronological. There was a lot of jumping around, which made it confusing. Plus, so much of it seemed more about her husband and Morocco itself.
Bummer. I wanted to like it.

[Cathi · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK book but not really about Grace Kelly more about Monaco and her husband. Jumps around a lot and sometimes repetitive. It has some interesting bits but can be a bit defensive at times.

[Tammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wished the book had shared more about Grace and less about the Prince and the ruling of Monaco.

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grace Kelly is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women ever graced Hollywood. She only starred in probably ten films in her short career, yet his beauty, the icy-cold glamorous sensuality reinforced her being recognized as a Hollywood Icons. As her life was not perfect yet, she found love in one of the most unexpected places on Earth, The Principality of Monaco, as she and Prince Rainier III found love in each other and formed what people called a fairy tale story, as Grace Kelly became Princess Grace of Monaco, and continued to grace (get it?) the world with her beauty, elegance and also kindness to people around her. Life seems like a story out of children's book for Grace, Rainier and their three children, Caroline, Albert and Stephanie, albeit with the constant hounding of the paparazzi, and things come to an abrupt and tragic end when the fatal car accident happened.

Reading this book, I am highly amused by the fact that Grace and Rainier was such a united entity that this book not only talks about Grace Kelly, her life (and death) and her decidedly short film career, but also of Rainier, their children, and how their cope with their lives after Grace's death, and most importantly of Principality of Monaco itself, of how Rainier steered Monaco in the tumultuous Cold War Politics, dealing with figures such as Charles De Gaulle and Aristotle Onassis, and how Rainier built Monaco into a glamorous place for rich and powerful it is today, a very interesting book to read and a very fresh experience for me.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the updated version of the book pictured above. It was very well written and sourced with a great deal of cooperation from the Grimaldi family. It was not just a story about Grace Kelly, but rather an interesting story about the history of Monaco, the Grimaldi family reign and how together, Grace and Raniere made the municipality the spectacular haven that it became known for. The book showed the up close and personal struggles of the family. I thoroughly enjoyed learning the rich history of the municipality and the people who frequented there and became friends of the Grimaldi’s. I highly recommend this book.

[Christine Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of good information on Princess Grace, Rainier, their family and the Principality of Monaco. The writing style is less than impressive, and the author is clearly a close friend of the family, so everything is presented in a positive (biased?) manner. Still, I now know a lot more about Monaco, which may be one of the most interesting countries in the world. It's also nice to get the inside story on the fairy-tale romance of Grace Kelly and her Prince. Now to see the movie, starring Nicole Kidman.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biographies are so much more compelling when they contain personal anecdotes and interviews by the author with the subject and their family. The book is a lovely tribute to Grace, a remarkable woman who lives on in the hearts of so many. The interviews with Prince Rainier reveal their devotion to each other. The interviews with their children are also imbued with love. I am heartbroken at the multitude of tragedies that the family has endured.

[Marcella Leite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comecei a ler achando que seria uma biografia de Grace Kelly, mas foi muito mais do que isso!
Foi uma viagem a um país incrível, pequeno e com uma história fabulosa.
Além de contar a história de um grande soberano, sua familia, e toda a dinastia Grimaldi.
Para quem não conhecer Monaco, este livro te leva até lá... e para quem já conhece, esse livro te faz revisitar um país tão incrivel!

[Doxapodótis Theodoropoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grace the Hollywood Sensation marries into Monaco’s Royalty a Kingdom with all the duties of King but none of power managing her hollywood carrier (which she retires from eventually )
And the tensions rise between De Gaul’s France and King of Monaco Grace perfectly Balance situations from Betrayal to love to Compromise.
From Being a Trophy Wife to Saviour of Sovereignty of Malta.

[Matheus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Para quem acompanha a trajetória de Grace Kelly, seja por seus filmes ou pelos documentários, este livro é uma boa fonte para descobrir detalhes mais pessoais sobre a Princesa e a vida da família real de Mônaco.

[Margarida Azeredo Alves Salgueiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confesso que não conhecia a história de Grace do Mónaco, claro que como qualquer pessoa ao longo dos anos fui lendo uma notícia ou outra dos membros da família real, mas conhecer a história não conhecia.
Fiquei encantada com a história contada na primeira pessoa por quem a viveu junto a Grace.

[Yvonne Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Piper Winchester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really a biography but more of when Grace became a royal.
Good read even though I'm new to Grace's life.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but true to the title, it is mostly about Grace’s years in Monaco with her family. Does not talk about her Hollywood years much.

[Peggy Lesko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning about her life and the lives of her husband and children. I was not familiar with them. I’m going to Monaco soon so am interested in it’s history.
The narrator was very good.