Thursday, December 27, 2007

Mika Grace Kelly


Grace Patricia Kelly
Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco

Grace Kelly
Titles Miss Grace Patricia Kelly, HSH The Princess of Monaco
Born November 12, 1929(1929-11-12)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died September 14, 1982 (aged 52)
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Buried Monaco Cathedral
Consort April 19, 1956–September 14, 1982
Consort to Rainier III
Issue Caroline, Princess of Hanover
Albert II of Monaco
Princess Stéphanie
Royal House Grimaldi
Father John B. Kelly, Sr.
Mother Margaret Katherine Majer
Grace, Princess of Monaco née Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress who, upon marriage to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco in 1956, became Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, but was generally known as Princess Grace of Monaco. Princess Grace maintained dual American and Monegasque citizenship after her marriage. The principality's current Sovereign Prince, Albert II is the son of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace. The American Film Institute ranked Kelly amongst the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.

Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she grew up in the East Falls section, the third of four children to John Brendan Kelly, Sr., also known as Jack Kelly, and Margaret Katherine Majer Kelly. Grace's siblings, in order of age, were Peggy, John Jr., and Lizanne. Her father was one of ten children of John Henry Kelly (1847-1897) and Mary Costello in an Irish American Catholic family (originally from Kidney Lake, Newport, County Mayo, Ireland). Already a local hero as a triple Olympic-gold-medal-winning sculler when the sport of rowing was most popular, John Kelly's brick business grew to become the largest on the East Coast. The self-made millionaire and his family were introduced to Philadelphia society. Mr. Kelly's large family included two uncles prominent in the arts: Walter Kelly, a vaudevillian, and George Kelly, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, who outside of Grace was assiduously looked down upon by the family because of his homosexuality.[1]
Cead Mile Failte, A Hundred Thousand Welcomes

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