Death
On September 13, 1982, while driving with her daughter, Stéphanie, to Monaco from their country home, Roc Agel, on the French side of the border, Princess Grace suffered a stroke, which caused her to drive her Rover P6 off the serpentine road down a mountainside. The accident site is located at 43°43′35″N 7°24′10″E / 43.72639°N 7.40278°E / 43.72639; 7.40278. Grace was pulled alive from the wreckage, but had suffered serious injuries and was unconscious. She died the following day at the Monaco Hospital (renamed Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace – "The Princess Grace Hospital Centre" in English—in 1985), having never regained consciousness; she was 52 years old. It was initially reported that Princess Stéphanie suffered only minor bruising, although it later emerged that she had suffered a serious cervical fracture.
Grace was buried in the Grimaldi family vault on September 18, 1982, after a requiem mass in Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco. The 400 guests at the service included representatives of foreign governments and of present and past European royal houses. Diana, Princess of Wales represented the British Royal Family. Cary Grant was among the members of the film community in attendance. Prince Rainier, who did not remarry, was buried alongside her following his death in 2005.
In his eulogy, James Stewart said:
| “ | You know, I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own. No question, I'll miss her, we'll all miss her, God bless you, Princess Grace. | ” |
Read more about this topic: Grace Kelly
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Why does man freeze to death trying to reach the North Pole? Why does man drive himself to suffer the steam and heat of the Amazon? Why does he stagger his mind with the mathematics of the sky? Once the question mark has arisen in the human brain the answer must be found, if it takes a hundred years. A thousand years.”
—Walter Reisch (1903–1963)
“The call of death is a call of love. Death can be sweet if we answer it in the affirmative, if we accept it as one of the great eternal forms of life and transformation.”
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)
“O Lord, methought what pain it was to drown,
What dreadful noise of waters in my ears!
What sights of ugly death within my eyes!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)