Pop History Moment: The Death of Princess Grace

25 years before a certain blonde beauty married an older royal gentleman in London, a similar story was being played out in Monaco...

Glamourous Grace Kelly, the Oscar-winning beauty with a string of acclaimed movie roles under her belt, wowed 'em in the tiny Mediterranean principality; throughout the quarter century of her marriage, too, she continued to impress people the world over with her poise. She was called Her Serene Highness as a matter of deference, but it suited her like no other title could have; Grace Kelly's serenity, it seems, was inborn.

On this day in 1982, as Princess Grace, she met her untimely end...

The previous day she and her youngest child, 17 year-old Princess Stephanie, had been coming back from the Grimaldi family retreat at Roc Agel along the Corniche moyenne when Princess Grace had a stroke behind the wheel; the Land Rover she was driving veered off the road and plunged 100 feet down a ravine.

Both princesses were taken to hospital, where the younger one was treated for a cervical fracture and released - although not in time to attend her mother's funeral; her mother, sadly, was removed from life support the following day and she died shortly thereafter.

Princess Grace was later buried in Monaco's St. Nicholas Cathedral; more than 20 years later she was joined by her widower, Rainier III, who was said to have mourned her daily.

If there's a bright side to the tragedy, it's that the good works she'd begun in her lifetime continue to this day, through the Princess Grace Foundation.
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