Grace Kelly (1929-1982), an American actress who became the Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in 1956, was one of the most famed celebrities of her time. Renowned for her beauty and elegance, she was a faithful client of the Maison Cartier.
Grace Kelly was born in Philadelphia on 12 November 1929. The daughter of two talented athletes, she made her stage debut at the age of 12, acting in plays by her uncle, playwright George Kelly.
Fascinated by the cinema as a young woman, she decided to pursue an acting career despite her parents’ initial disapproval. In 1947, she enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and subsequently appeared in several plays and television films. In 1951, Kelly was noticed by Gary Cooper during a visit to a set, and was revealed to the public the following year in the American Western High Noon. She then starred in several Alfred Hitchcock films, namely Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955). During the same period, she played the lead role in The Country Girl directed by George Seaton. Following this highly acclaimed performance, she won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1955.
The same year, the actress was invited to the Cannes Film Festival, where she caused a sensation among the French public and journalists alike. She posed for photographs on several occasions wearing a ring with three bands in three golds.
Kelly was introduced to Prince Rainier III at a photo session organised in Monaco during the festival.
In December 1955, just a few months after meeting, the couple officially announced their engagement, sealed with a solitaire by Cartier, the Principality of Monaco’s official jeweller since 1920. The ring’s platinum setting features a stunning emerald-cut 10.48-carat diamond framed by two baguette-cut diamonds. Unwilling to remove the ring, Kelly wore it in her last film, High Society.
After completing her final film, Kelly left for Monaco, where the splendorous royal wedding was celebrated on 18 and 19 April 1956. The young princess was gifted with several Cartier pieces, including a rigid diamond-paved bracelet from Aristotle Onassis, a baguette- and brilliant-cut diamond necklace from the National Council of Monaco, and a necklace adorned with cabochon-cut rubies – later modified so it could be transformed into a tiara or three brooch clips – from the Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer.
Grace of Monaco remained attached to the Maison throughout her life.
The Princess mingled formal pieces with more intimate jewels, including many colourful animal brooches depicting birds, chickens or dogs which reflected her personal taste. Examples include two poodle brooches which were emblematic of the naturalism movement of the 1950s and 60s: one enhanced with pearls evoking the canine’s curly fur; another diamond-paved with a tail that moves.
Bearing witness to Princess Grace’s refined taste and privileged relationship with the Maison, these pieces are regularly loaned out by the Principality for Cartier exhibitions, such as the one held in 2014 at the Grand Palais in Paris, or in 2018 at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.