Whatever happened to Princess Diana's Grace Kelly inspired dress?

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When I look at this dress I can't think of anyone other than Grace Kelly. It is understandable as it was inspired by her look in the Alfred Hitchcock film, To Catch A Thief. So, it is hard to separate it from Grace Kelly and see it as a 'Diana dress'. Like many of her dresses, it was designed by Catherine Walker. It was lot 6 at the Christie's auction and is described in the auction catalogue as: A Classic Evening Dress of Chiffon:

Inspired by the classical simplicity favoured by Grace Kelly, the dress is strapless, of pale blue silk chiffon, intricately draped and tucked with a crossover yoke. There is a matching chiffon stole. 

It was worn at the 40th Cannes Film festival in January 1987 and July of the same year to the premiere of Superman IV. She also wore it to the opening of Miss Saigon in 1989 and official portraits by Terence Donovan. 

It has a bit of an interesting auction history. In 1997 it was bought by AMC/WE Tv network for $70,700 along with two others. The network wanted to take their dresses on a shopping mall tour titled 'Princess Diana:  Dresses to Die For.' Understandably, after Diana's tragic death, they quickly changed the title to 'Legacy of Love.' It has been exhibited in a variety of venues, including Dresses for Inspiration, as well as Kensington Palace. 

In 2007, the network tried to sell it on eBay for charity. It went from Christie's Auction House, the premiere auction house dating back to 1766, to EBAY, purveyor of Diana dolls and other royal tchotchkes. 

Let that sink in.    

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Luckily, it did not sell. With a starting bid of $300,000, either it wasn't the right audience or people just knew something so glorious deserved better. Instead it was sold by Julien's Auction House in Beverley Hills in 2011 for $137,500. The current owners are the Museo de la Moda in Santiago, Chile.

© Marilyn Braun 2020 

Thank you for enjoying this article. If you use the information for research purposes, a link to credit the work I've put into writing it would be appreciated.

Sources

Princess Diana - See how much her most iconic dresses really went for

Princess Diana of Wales Julien's Auction House Results 

The Princess who wore her heart on a sleeve

WE Tv launches charity auction of Princess Diana

What price glory? Diana gown on eBay

Royal Review - The Grace Kelly years, Princess of Monaco

This may or may not be a good quality to have. I have a habit of buying things sight unseen or unheard. For example, if a new album comes out by Seal or Robbie Williams, I will buy it before I've even heard a note. The same with books. Well, some books anyway...If a book comes out, say on Prince Charles, I won't immediately order it. However if the book is about Diana, the Queen, or in this case Grace Kelly, I will automatically buy it. I'm rarely if ever disappointed, so maybe this isn't such a bad quality after all.

One disadvantage to being in Canada is that royal exhibits rarely come here. Sure we had the exhibit of Diana's dresses in 1998 and the Diana: a celebration exhibit came in 2004, but I had to originally travel to Althorp to see it. I missed out on the Queen's 80th birthday and the Royal wedding exhibits at Buckingham Palace. While it isn't the same as seeing them in person, luckily I have two books to compensate for that. This time I'm missing out on the Grace Kelly exhibit in Monaco. September 14, 2007 marked the 25th anniversary of her death and this exhibit pays homage to her. At least I have a book to console me for being on the wrong continent.

The Grace Kelly Years, Princess of Monaco is a unique book in that, unlike many exhibit books, it's comprehensive. One frustrating thing that I've found from exhibit books is that they usually offer only part of the display - mainly the highlights - thus leaving me wanting more. The same cannot be said of this book. If after 304 pages you haven't learned something new about her, read it again.

Authorized by the royal family with items from the palace archives, this book doesn't offer sensational details of her life. It presents her in context of her life as Grace Kelly, the girl from Philadelphia, to movie star to Princess of Monaco. The objects on display are charming: her scrapbook containing items from significant moments of her youth - gum wrappers, matchbook covers, napkins, and movie tickets. These mementos reveal a sentimental side obscured by the 'ice-queen' descriptions during her acting career.

This book is a love letter to her memory by the only people who are truly authorized to do so - her children. In life she was a private person, so there's a sense of generosity in allowing us a glimpse of previously unseen family snapshots, letters, love notes, stills from family movies, and jewels, including her engagement ring. Less private, but no less interesting are advertisements from her modelling days, the dresses she wore when she won her Oscar, and at her civil wedding ceremony.

Interestingly, at her wedding in 1956 there were no royal heads of state in attendance. When she died, representatives from royal houses came in numbers to pay tribute to a woman who was more than just a beautiful woman, but someone who had surpassed it and become a much loved and respected figure on the world stage. Like Grace Kelly: A Life in Pictures this book gives us a glimpse of a remarkable woman who 25 years after her death, still continues to fascinate.

Click here to order this book

© Marilyn Braun 2007

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A Rose by a Royal name

When royal ladies arrive at an engagement, it is customary to give a bouquet of flowers. Usually the royal lady will also receive flowers from the crowds, sometimes in abundance. Some of the flowers are kept and some are given to local hospitals for patients to enjoy. However, there are some flowers which, when received, royalty might hang on to.

Of the many accolades that royalty receives, whether having food, a building, or a street in their name, many have also had the honor of having a flower, usually a rose, named after them as well. Here are just a few of the flowers:

Princesse de Monaco: Named for Princess Grace of Monaco. Some of her hobbies included flower arranging and pressing. Her daughter also has a rose named after her called the Caroline de Monaco.

Crown Princess Mary - a rose named after Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and sold through the Heart foundation of Austrailia. Particularly appropriate as her late mother, who passed away from heart disease, was an avid rose gardener.

What could be more appropriate for someone known as 'England's Rose', than to have a flower named after her. This is actually not the first flower named in her honor. There's also one called the 'Lady Diana' and another called 'The Princess of Wales'. The one pictured is the 'Diana, Princess of Wales' and is being sold to raise money for her memorial foundation.

Royal William. Depending on which source you check, this rose is either named to commemorate the birth of Prince William or to mark King William III's arrival in England in 1688.

Duchess of Cornwall - named after Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall to raise funds for the National Osteoporosis Society, a disease her mother died of.

Princess Alice Rose. Queen Victoria's third child and second daughter. She was also the mother of Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven .

Other royals who have had flowers named after them:

Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands
Princess Margaret
Princess Michael of Kent
Princess Marina and her daughter Princess Alexandra
Princess Michiko of Japan (now Empress Michiko)
Princess Alexandra of Denmark

© Marilyn Braun 2007

Royal Review - Grace Kelly: A Life in Pictures

I found the book quite by mistake. Surfing amazon.ca, I was looking for new royalty books and I came up with this. Without thinking twice, or bothering with reviews, I ordered it. Receiving the confirmation email made me one step closer to owning this book. The estimated delivery date reassured me that it would arrive soon and I eagerly checked my doorstep for the familiar cardboard box. After a day or so of waiting, I went to check the superbox (neighborhood mailbox) and there it was, wedged into the oversized bin. Tossing dignity aside I braced myself against the box with my foot, pulled the book out, taking care not to destroy the box or the hinges on the door. Yes, finally, here it is!

Can you tell I love books like this?

So much so, that I actually own several other books by the same author. Of the seven books in the series, I own the ones on John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and John F. Kennedy Jr. Will I buy the Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg version? Probably, I love anything to do with the Kennedy family.

But I digress.

Grace Kelly: A life in pictures covers her life from infancy to her death. Like the other versions, this book has several pages in front of the book with biographical information. If you're familiar with her life story you, like myself, can skip these pages and go directly to the beautiful photographs. While the book can be enjoyed just for the photographs themselves, care has been taken to not make her appear as just a pretty face or a fairytale princess. The quotations by her, indispersed throughout the book, remind us that there was a real person behind whatever idealistic image we may continue to hold of her.

We see Grace as a baby and a somewhat awkward little girl in a family of over achievers. We see her in all her glamour shot glory, and at the pinacle of her success as she wins an Academy Award. Then we see her transformation to a princess on her wedding day. She is shown with her husband and children at work and at play. As she grows older, some of the photographs aren't necessarily flattering, but this makes her more human. If I have any complaint about this book, it's the title. While she may be more familiar to people as a movie star, she spent more of her life as a princess. Also, some of the photographs aren't always chronologically organized. Several years into her life as a princess, for no inexplicable reason, pre-wedding photos during her engagement period show up.

While the book claims to have never before seen photos, Princess Grace fan that I am, I've actually seen almost all of them. Still, I was not disappointed. Whether you're a Grace Kelly/Princess Grace fan, I recommend this book for encapsulating a fascinating life and for the sheer beauty of the photographs.

© Marilyn Braun 2007

To order this book, click here.