Palace: My Life in the Royal Family of Monaco

by Christian Louis de Massy, Charles Higham

A member of the royal family tells the true story of a family rent by jealousy, suspicion, and duplicity, with penetrating portraits of Princess Grace, Prince Rainier, and Princess Caroline

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Royalty, Biography

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1986

About the author

Christian Louis de Massy, Baron de Massy, is the son of Princess Antoinette of Monaco, Baroness de Massy, and international tennis champion Alexandre-Athenase Noghès. Currently, he is presently the Economic Attaché to the Embassy of Monaco in Washington, DC.

Reviews

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is part autobiography, part royal gossip rag with a vindictive tone. The author is the nephew of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, an entitled Playboy who justifies his bad behavior or blames his ambitious, emotionally distant mother for anything he can’t justify. There is so much bitterness in this book that it was uncomfortable to read. This is an older book, written when the author was a young adult; I wonder how decades of maturation has shaped his perspective on his life.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 2 out of 5]

With Palace: My Life in the Royal Family of Monaco by Christian Louis de Massy, I thought I was getting an autobiography about Christian Louis de Massy, not mainly drama featuring Grace Kelly, Rainier, and Caroline with a few little details about Monaco.

[Leslie Goddard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really an autobiography of de Massy, beefed up with his remembrances of his aunt Grace in order to sell copies. That’s understandable, and actually he did have a pretty fascinating, difficult life. But ultimately I didn’t trust him as an author and I found it hard to sympathize with him, not because he grew up rich and privileged (clearly he had a very hard childhood and a seriously dysfunctional family) but because he seems to avoid any real thoughtfulness or depth of understanding. He presents everyone in a very one-sided way: his mother: cruel and irrational; his uncle Rainier: jealous and petty in his controlling; his aunt Grace: endlessly understanding and saintly.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a few fun facts about royal life in Monaco but it mostly seemed like a bunch of snobs and he needed to write this book for some money since the family cut ties with him!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

So...yeah. Kinda dislike this author. I know he was trying to come off as down to earth and misconstrued but this book read like a pity party. His mother comes off as a psycho hosebeast and that may or may not have been true in real life. But listening to him bemoan the fact that he was financially on his own gnawed at me a little. He lived a jet set life, had expensive cars a nice home but still complained that he was at the mercy of the crown financially. Grow the F up little boy and get a fricken job. I also came away with the feeling that his respect for women in general could be improved. I also find it telling that the bulk of the book and pictures included were of Princess Grace’s family and not his. It smacked of capitalizing on her popularity and death as a way to lure in readers. It was a very tabloidesque move that lessened my respect for the author.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

#44 of 120 books pledged to read during 2019

[Caroline Duffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy, fast read from Prince Rainer's nephew's sad and wild life.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was actually a lot more interesting than I thought I would be. I only read it for Monaco for my "around the world books" challenge, but I found myself caught up in the back-stabbing, intrigue and many colorful characters in the ruling Grimaldi family. I am related to plenty of back-stabbers but the people De Massy describes make my family look positively tranquil! It was like a soap opera. The only good person in the whole story, it would seem, was Grace Kelly, whom I felt deeply sorry for.

If you've got to read something about Monaco, or something about modern royal families, this might as well be it. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.