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Title: Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier
ISBN: 0446531642
Author:
J. Randy Taraborrelli
Publicate Date: 2003-05
Publish: 2003-05
List Price: $25.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $1.99
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
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1: Great biography!
You can't go wrong with a biography by J.Randy Taraborrelli! Again very well researched and again you get hooked after the first sentences.For all who want to know more about the actress Grace Patricia Kelly who became the Princess of Monaco and her life with her husband and family behind palace walls,I highly recommend this book.
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2: Too Much Whitewashing of Rainier
Taraborrelli was clearly fascinated by his primary subject, Grace, but it appears it was Prince Rainier whom he truly fell in love with.
He never once mentions Rainier's notorious infidelities, which began as soon as Grace married him, and continued until she died. According to Wendy Leigh's new book "True Grace", she strayed too, but her affairs started off as quid pro quo for Rainier's constant mistresses (and continued from isolation and loneliness).
This omission is profoundly prejudicial to Grace because it makes it look like she was just too shallow to give up her attachment to her movie career and thus made herself morbidly unhappy with her new life in Monaco. In fact, she did struggle with that loss, but her greatest heartbreak in Monaco was that she married a philandering, obnoxious, overbearing, insensitive and dismissive popinjay of a prince.
Taraborrelli should have waited for Rainier's death to write Grace's biography. Maybe then he wouldn't have been so tempted to whitewash Rainier into the caring, tender, appreciative and supportive husband he most certainly was not.
Shame on you Randy.
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3: A Real Life Fairy Tale?
This book details the lives of Grace Kelly and Rainier Grimaldi otherwise known as Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of Monaco both before and after their "marriage of the century."
Grace Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, PA. In 1929 to Jack and Margret Kelly. She had an older sister Margaret (Peggy) and older brother Jack Jr (Kell) as well as a younger sister Elizabeth Anne (Lizanne). From the time that she was young she wanted to be an actress. When she was a teenager she modeled to pay for an acting school and thanks to her uncle George got some early work on the stage. Soon after she started making movies such as High Noon (with Gary Cooper), Mogambo (with Clark Gable) and won an Oscar for her portrayal in The Country Girl. It was because of this that she was offered the opportunity to go to Cannes to the Cannes Film Festival. During her time in France she also was offered the opportunity to go to Monaco to visit Prince Rainier little realizing that the visit would change her life.
Prince Rainier was born in 1923. His mother was the illegitimate daughter of the Prince of Monaco and married a French Duke in 1920. Rainier had a younger sister named Antoinette. When Rainier was six his parents divorced and he and Antoinette were mostly raised by their grandfather. Rainier was educated in England and France and in 1949 became heir to his grandfather's throne after his mother and sister renounced it. He became Prince of Monaco in 1950. During this time he was single, but dating an actress. Shortly before Grace Kelly's visit he and the actress broke up.
Several months after the meeting between Grace and Rainier he came to the United States. Grace and Rainier used this time to better know each other and shortly after Christmas they became engaged. After several months of negotiations they where married in Monaco. Nine months later they had their first child, Caroline, and five months after that Grace was pregnant with Prince Albert. They later added to the family with princess Stephanie.
The marriage between Princess Grace and Prince Rainier was not always the best, but ultimalty they loved each other and their three children. When Grace was killed in 1981 after a car crash Rainier mourned her for the rest of his life.
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4: This book is better than 3.5 stars.
This book gets 5 stars for research, 5 stars for presentation (simply a photo of Grace in THAT wedding dress justifies a book existing) and 4 stars for a good read; It's not that it could have been any better, it's just that the story is ultimately sad. However, I think the subject matter was taken very seriously by the author, and unlike other reviewers here, I consider the thoughts expressed to be well thought out and supported by the material that was uncovered in the process, including that from interviews. What other material is ever likely to be uncovered on this subject?? This book is better than 3.5 stars.
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5: The American Aristocrat who Became a European Princess
Like Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly was born to a very privileged life in Philadelphia and was a debutant before she was a Hollywood Star. Cool, poised, aloof, and classy she was the blonde counterpart to Kennedy's dark mysterious allure. But her fairytale life had no happy ending and despite its glamour was all too human.
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