Prince Albert II of Monaco guest star of a screening in tribute to his mother in Nice
Prince Albert II of Monaco was present this Tuesday at the screening of the film “La main au collet” at the Cinémathèque de Nice, as part of a cycle paying tribute to Grace Kelly, his mother.
He had come alone. Without his wife Princess Charlene or his sisters Princesses Caroline and Stéphanie. This Tuesday evening, September 27, 2022, Prince Albert II of Monaco appeared at the Nice cinematheque. The sovereign attended, in the company of a hundred other spectators, the screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s “La main au collet” where Grace Kelly co-starred with Gary Grant. This film is one of eleven programmed in this place as part of a retrospective paying homage to Princess Grace, on the occasion of the 40e anniversary of his death. These eleven feature films featuring the American actress who chose to give up her career to marry Prince Rainier III, were shot in the space of five years, between 1951 and 1956, the date of their marriage.
Sent after the session where he had been invited by the City of Nice, the monarch of the Rock declared: “My mother is lovely in this film, that’s an understatement, and then there are superb images that evoke Monaco and the Côte d’Azur, and it’s also a great story”.
But he insisted that the role she was most proud of was “perhaps the one she played in ‘A Country Girl,’ where she was perhaps less expected.” Role that earned him an Oscar in Hollywood. Referring to the proposals that had been made to his mother after her main nuptials – in particular from Alfred Hitchcock for his thriller “No spring for Marnie” – his son underlined: “She wanted this adventure but in the end the reason for taking away”.
Albert II posed in front of the armchairs for the filming of Grace Kelly, Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock
“La Main au collet” was mostly produced on the Côte d’Azur in 1954. The costume ball for the final scene was shot in the Victorine studios in Nice, which lent the Cinematheque the armchairs used by Grace Kelly, Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock during filming and which are still preciously kept there in its props store. Playing with the photographers, Prince Albert II posed in front of these pieces which were then presented in the hall.