Queries after death of Princess Grace

Press, 16 September 1982, Page 1

Queries after death of Princess Grace

NZPA Monte Carlo Princess Grace of Monaco died in hospital yesterday from a brain haemorrhage suffered in a car crash on Monday. A Monaco Palace spokesman said her condition had deteriorated steadily and she died at 8.30 a.m. (New Zealand time). The princess, aged 52. was known to millions of cinemagoers as the American-born actress. Grace Kelly. She starred in such screen classics as “High Society." “Dial M for Murder," “High Noon," and “Rear Window." But in 1956, aged 26. she gave up the life of a Hollywood star to marry-Prince Rainier of Monaco.' She had been reported out of danger earlier yesterday in spite of a broken thighbone, collarbone, and rib. Her daughter, Princess Stephanie, aged 17, who was also in the car. suffered slight concussion but was discharged from hospital on Tuesday. The brief palace statement said: “All therapeutic possibilities had been exceeded, and Princess Grace died of an intra-cerebral vascular haemorrhage.”

Questions have been raised about who was driving the car. Princess Grace was driving her 1972 Rover 3500 when it plunged 30m off the road, acording to an official communique. But a gardener. Sesio Leuio, aged 62, who found the two women, said that Princess Stephanie was in the front of the car, which had landed in his garden, while Princess Grace was lying in the back.

Princess Stephanie was taken from the car — which after turning over- several times had come to rest on its

roof — through the left front door. Her mother was taken, out through the rear window. Princess Grace said several years ago that she did not like to drive, while her daughter is too young to have a driver’s licence. A policeman said he had seen Princess Grace at the wheel of the car onlv minutes before the accident. The Nice prosecutor, who went to the accident scene, said that because of the cartwheeling of the car and since the occupants appeared not to have had their seat belts fastened, it was hard to say who had been driving. “Until proof to the contrary it was Princess Grace who was driving," the police said. The pair were returning from a private royal residence in the hill's above Monaco. The palace said they had travelled about six or seven kilometres on steep, twisting roads when Princess Grace braked for a sharp turn. The foot brake on the car had failed and when the Princess tried to use the handbrake to slow the runaway vehicle, that had also failed, said a spokesman. Asked if her husband.

Prince Hainier, had been at Princess Grace's bedside when she died, the palace spokesman said "he was at her bedside virtually without interruption from the time she was admitted to hospital."

Princess Grace’s mother who lives in Ocean City. New Jersey, is in failing health and had not been told of her daughter's death, a family spokesman said yesterday. Her father is dead. The princess's brother, John Kelly, a former Olympic sculling champion, said in Philadelphia: “All of us are very, very shaken." The comedian. Bob Hope, a friend from her brief career as a film star, said in Vail, Colorado, that Princess Grace was a "great lady." “The world loses a great lady and we lose a personal friend." he said. "She graced the world with beauty, talent, and dignity," he said. The actor and dancer, Gene Kelly, said in Los Angeles, "it is a terrible blow to everyone and I feel bereft. As you know, Grace was dearly" loved by everyone out here." Princess Grace's life. Pages 10, 11.