Funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco
The tomb of Gratia Patricia ('Grace Patricia' in Latin), Princess of Monaco
Date18 September 1982 (1982-09-18)
LocationCathedral of Our Lady Immaculate, Monaco-Ville
ParticipantsPrincely Family of Monaco

The funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco took place at the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate in Monaco-Ville on 18 September 1982. Princess Grace had succumbed to injuries resulting from a car crash on 14 September, at the age of 52. An estimated 26,000 people paid their respects as she lay in state at the Palatine Chapel at the Prince's Palace of Monaco before the ceremony, a requiem mass.[1][2]

Funeral service

Princess Grace's body lay in state in the Ardent Chapel in the Grimaldi palace where she made her home for 26 years. She was dressed in a high-necked white lace dress and laid on a quilt of orchids. Afterwards, she was transported by funeral cortege led by her husband, Prince Rainer, and her children, Prince Albert and Princess Caroline through the streets of Monaco-Ville from the palace to the cathedral. Her youngest daughter, Princess Stéphanie, was unable to attend, still recovering from injuries sustained in the car accident.[3]

The homily was delivered by Charles Amarin Brand, the Archbishop of Monaco. Brand stated in his homily that people were "united in pain" and emphasised the "senselessness and inexplicable nature" of "the rupture of the destiny of this humanly exceptional, religiously exceptional person". Brand said the Princess's Roman Catholic faith "modeled, indeed sculpted, not only the public person, but the deep personality of her being" and that her accident "results in stupefaction, and provides no answers to the questions of life, suffering, separation and death".[3] The gospel reading was "In my Father's house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you" from John 14.[3]

The music that accompanied the mass included an excerpt from Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 4, Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings and four pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach.[3]

Grace's coffin was draped in the Monégasque flag and lay in the cathedral's Chapel of the Princes during the ceremony.[4][5] A second mass was offered after the ceremony for Monégasque citizens. The Interment of the coffin in the Grimaldi family vault in the apse of the cathedral was scheduled for the following week, as the timing of the funeral service overran.[3]

Prince Rainier was seated with Princess Caroline and Prince Albert at the ceremony. Grace's siblings; her brother John B. 'Kell' Kelly Jr., and her sisters Lizanne and Peggy, sat behind the Monégasque princely family. Four of Grace's friends who had served as bridesmaids during her wedding were in attendance, as was her former agent Jay Kanter and former co-star Cary Grant.[6] The representatives of several reigning and non-reigning royal families and governments were also in attendance. Nancy Reagan, the First Lady of the United States, was a friend of Grace's and led the American delegation. She was seated with Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the President of France François Mitterrand, and Diana, Princess of Wales, wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. Diana had previously met Princess Grace at a music recital at Goldsmith's Hall in the City of London.[7][8]

The rest of the American delegation consisted of the United States Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman Jr., and Dick Thornburgh, the Governor of Pennsylvania, Evan G. Galbraith, the United States Ambassador to France, the Pennsylvanian Congressman Thomas M. Foglietta and Jacklyn Anne Cahill, the State Department Officer in charge of French and Monacan Affairs.[9]

Other notable attendees included singer Eddie Fisher, Barbara Sinatra, the wife of the singer Frank Sinatra, and Jackie Stewart, the racing driver.[10][11]

Attendees

Family

House of Grimaldi

Kelly family

  • Margaret Conlin, Princess Grace's sister
  • John B. Kelly Jr., Princess Grace's brother
  • Elizabeth Anne Levine, Princess Grace's sister

Foreign royalty

Members of reigning royal families

Members of non-reigning royal families

Non-royal dignitaries

Other notable attendees

References

  1. ↑ Tina Brown (31 May 2011). The Diana Chronicles. Random House. pp. 190–. ISBN 978-1-4464-7411-2.
  2. ↑ John Moody (15 September 1982). "The body of Princess Grace was put on view..." UPI. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 John Vinocur (18 September 1982). "The World Mourns". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. ↑ Lonely Planet; Hugh McNaughtan; Oliver Berry; Gregor Clark (1 January 2019). Lonely Planet Provence & the Cote d'Azur. Lonely Planet Global Limited. pp. 219–. ISBN 978-1-78868-173-5.
  5. ↑ Yann-Brice Dherbier; Pierre-Henri Verlhac (2007). Grace Kelly: A Life in Pictures. Pavilion. ISBN 978-1-86205-776-0.
  6. 1 2 3 Anne Edwards (1 September 2017). The Grimaldis of Monaco: Centuries of Scandal, Years of Grace. Lyons Press. p. 302. ISBN 978-1-4930-2922-8.
  7. ↑ Craig Brown (20 August 2013). Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings. Simon and Schuster. pp. 249–. ISBN 978-1-4516-8451-3.
  8. ↑ James P. MacGuire (15 March 2017). Real Lace Revisited: Inside the Hidden World of America's Irish Aristocracy. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-1-4930-2492-6.
  9. ↑ Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. 1982. pp. 1145–.
  10. ↑ Adele Brown (February 2002). What a Way to Go: Fabulous Funerals of the Famous and Infamous. Chronicle Books.
  11. ↑ Carrie Fisher (2 February 2012). Wishful Drinking. Simon and Schuster. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-4711-0109-0.
  12. ↑ "Grace Kelly's Forever Look". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
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