ROBAIRD O’CEARBHAILL
Fairy tales of movie star life and Monaco royalty came after a hard childhood – thanks to kind school nuns who successfully came to her rescue.
Do any fairy stories of dreams come true like Grace Kelly? None that I know of. From paternal working class, all Catholic Irish ancestors, and the maternal side from 16th century German aristocrats, she became the Princess of Monaco. In early 20s, she married into real royalty, to the ruler of an elite playground country other regal families holidayed in. But Grace Kelly’s ascent was not at all expected, or blessed by the best fortune, quite the contrary.
She grew up as the unpopular child in a family who looked down on her. Despite becoming a world known beauty, her mother described her as unattractive in her teens, while her father’s reaction to her best actress Oscar prize was that his favorite child, elder sister had more talent, in everything, even though she had never been an actress.
Grace was not athletically inspired in her early childhood and early teens. Her father thought she was turning her back on sports, where his other children excelled. Even though in later school years Grace did succeed in sports teams the poor image stuck with the Olympian. So how did Grace break though in an unloving family?
As tortuous as her family mistreatment was, there was worse to come as the first love of her life, a couple of years into their deep relationship, was stricken with fast debilitating, untreatable multiple sclerosis, dying five years later.
As Princess Grace revealed of her high school days, if it was not for the love, kindness and inspiration of the nuns and the devout Catholic faith they helped blossom in those years, the international fount of charity her institutions became would not have materialized. But the other source was turning a sometimes cruel, shy, very unfair childhood into a triumphal passion.
Two books tell us about her life: James Spada’s The Secret Life of a Princess , and Robert Lacey’s The lives and loves – the definitive biogapher of Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco.
(Part 3 of Princess Grace will reveal more of her tough, Caholic, but prosperous childhood, her meteoric Hollywood rise and her efforts in international Catholic charity.) (Photo: Wikipedia)
Follow
