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Monaco

Personal footage shot by Princess Grace revealed in new documentary

Previously unseen video footage of Princess Grace of Monaco, most of which was shot either by her or her husband Prince Rainier, will be publicly unveiled for the first time in a new documentary.

Her Name Was Grace Kelly would show a different side to the Princess, who married Prince Rainier in April 1956 and remained the Princess of Monaco until her death in 1982.

The producers spoke to People magazine about Her Name Was Grace Kelly and said it “reveals Grace Kelly as we have never seen her before, portraying her quite differently to the official image of the Princess of Monaco.”

Produced by Patrick Spica Productions, the documentary will be internationally distributed by ZED. Plans to distribute it coincides with what would have been Princess Grace’s 90th birthday, on 12 November.

The documentary has been produced with the blessing of Prince Albert II, Princess Grace’s son, and will premiere next week in La Rochelle, France, at the Sunny Side of the Doc.

Director Serge de Sampigny, a noted documentarian on historical events using amateur film from the time, was granted full permission to the Grimaldi family’s private archives in an exclusive deal with the family.

Two documentaries have been prepared about Princess Grace: one in English, the other in French; and of two different lengths, 60 minutes and 90 minutes.

de Sampigny pulled together Her Name Was Grace Kelly from roughly 38 hours of footage. Half of the film has never been publicly available before and includes footage from the Prince’s Palace in Monte Carlo, their private residence, Roc Agel, and the Chateau du Marchais, an ultra-private home that is rarely shown on camera.

Members of the Grimaldi family have contributed narration to the documentary.

Princess Grace has been the subject of several royal biographies/documentaries, as well as a television movie starring Cheryl Ladd in the 1980s, and a 2014 biopic starring Nicole Kidman.

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.