Rainier de Monaco: who is this daring film actress he wanted before Grace Kelly?
Prince Rainier III breathed his last on April 6, 2005, 17 years ago to the day. Before living a romance and founding a family with the illustrious Grace Kelly, the interested party provoked another actress, also blonde with blue eyes…
The Gotha couples have become so emblematic that we sometimes feel like they’ve lasted forever. Yet whether it is Prince William, Albert of Monaco or his father, Prince Rainier III, many of them have had connections, some even love stories, before uniting with the woman of their life. If no one has forgotten his arranged meeting with the Hitchcockian actress Grace Kelly, on Le Rocher, in the mid-1950s, the Monegasque sovereign was in a relationship with another actress before her : Gisele Pascal. This one was certainly less known than the heroine of The hand on the collar, but still with many advantages. First, she was blonde with blue eyesas Philippe Delorme reminded us in his book Charlène and those funny ladies of Monaco. Significant criteria for Rainier III: “I have this dream of a young woman with blonde hair, fair complexion, feminine and graceful“, he will say when the American magazine Collier’s asks him to paint the portrait of the ideal wife.
Between them, love at first sight was immediate. For its part, the press quickly echoed this idyll, allowing this couple to become popular with the general public. In 1949, however, an important event marked a turning point in their relationship: access to the throne of Prince Rainier of Monaco. From that moment, The question of marriage naturally arose, then heirs… But in the eyes of the Monegasque princely family, Gisèle Pascal, who also fell under the spell of Yves Montand in the past, was not not worthy of obtaining the title of princess. In question ? His humble origins to begin with. “She is the daughter of a florist from Cannes“, indicated Philippe Delorme in his work. In addition, the one who began by exercising the profession of shorthand typist before that of actress has shot”in light comedies, somewhat ‘daring’ films – for the time – with explicit titles: After love, Mademoiselle s’amuse or La femme nue.” Enough to make the hairs of his in-laws stand on end…
>> Prince Rainier of Monaco and Grace Kelly: relive the wedding of the century in pictures
This stubborn rumor that prevented the marriage
Another discordant point, the person concerned did not feel not ready to give up her acting career for the beautiful eyes of his prince. But the real concern was not there. At the time, “it is rumored that she is sterile“, and therefore unable to give heirs to the main family. A scenario that was repeated later with Charlene of Monaco. Sterility denied a few years later, when the same Gisèle Pascal gave birth to a daughter, named Pascale, the fruit of her love affair with actor Raymond Pellegrin. Like a snub to the Principality of Monaco…
A love story that lasted six years
If the princely marriage therefore never took place, Rainier III and Gisèle Pascal have all the same lived a beautiful romance for six long years. After their separation, which occurred in 1953, the actress consoled in the arms of Gary Coopermet on the set of Boom on Paris, before his reunion with his childhood sweetheart, Raymond Pellegrinon the movie Merchants of illusionsto which she said “yes” in 1955. The same year when Prince Rainier crossed paths with Grace Kelly, his future wife and the mother of his three children… Chance sometimes does things well.
Photo credits: BEST PICTURE