Grace Kelly’s husband talks intimately of their two children.
By Lester David
The infant in the crib clutched his toy tightly, refusing to hand it over despite the repeated demands of his older sister. So the little girl did what any 2-year-old might be driven to under similar frustrating circumstances.
She belted him.
The little boy instantly set up a yowl that brought his parents on the run. Mother and dad comforted the baby, then let sister know thev take a dim view of such behavior.
In a few moments peace was restored, and he who got slapped—His Highness, Prince Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre, Marquis des Baux, heir to the ancient throne of Monaco—was all gurgles once again. His sister, the golden Princess Caroline, played happily across the room. And the parents, Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace, had successfullv weathered another family incident.
Royal parents face the same minor day-by-day explosions as anyone else while raising children, and this instance of sibling rivalry is just one case in point. The delightful little story was related to me by Prince Rainier himself during an exclusive interview, in which he explained his views about children and revealed intimate glimpses of family life behind the pink walls of his 200-room royal palace. He explained other warmly human things:
That princes, too, can have those heartstopping moments when someone rushes, in with the cry: “The child has been hurt!”
That royal children can toss temper tantrums, and royal parents must figure their own ways of handling such crises.
That sovereigns also remember with photographic clarity the dramatic second when a child walked unaided for the very first time.
Like most fathers, the Prince is perfectly willing to talk endlessly about his children. It seems there is lots to tell…
Blond Princess Caroline turned 2 at the end of January and fuzzy-haired Prince Albert was a year old on March 14. And their dad noted that they already had different temperaments and personalities.
“Caroline is always alert and bubbling,” the Prince said. “She’s constantly on the go. In fact, she already is quite an outrageous flirt, thoroughly feminine in her ways. She is learning to speak in two languages at the same time, picking up phrases in French as well as English. She started with ‘how do you do’ and ‘au revoir’ and then there is ‘bye-bye.’ We haven’t figured out if that’s English or French but no matter. It loses nothing in the translation.”
Sibling Rivalry
“Caroline is altogether different from the boy. She’s bouncy and sparkling while he’s the philosophical type. He will sit for a long time and regard you gravely. We’re certain he’ll grow up to have a tranquil disposition and a quiet character.”
About that sibling rivalry:
“The little fcirl loves her baby brother,” Prince Rainier explained. “She hovers over him a good deal, kisses him, plays with him and makes him laugh. Very often she’ll stop what she’s doing and walk over to his crib just to pat him. But Princess Grace and I have noticed that every now and then those little love pats can become slaps if we aren’t watchful.
“Of course, it’s perfectly normal jealousy and Caroline is so transparent about it. If I make a fuss over the baby, Caroline takes my hand firmly and leads me over to the other side of the room and earnestly starts to show me her new teddy bear. When I bring toys to them, there’s always one for each. But every now and then, Caroline marches over and tries to appropriate Albert’s, even if it’s a teething ring.”
The Prince was confident that this state of affairs was not a permanent one. He estimated that within a year at most the heir presumptive would be big enough to put up a spirited battle in defense of his property rights and Caroline’s forays would thereupon cease.
Life in a Palace
The Prince and Princess spend as much time with their children as they can. Rainier heartily disapproves of the upper-class European practice that relegates toddlers to an upstairs nursery for most of the time in the care of a “nanny.” He said:
“Until the ages of 4 or 5, the children are virtually invisible. They have their meals with nanny, play outside with her, do everything with her, not with their parents. They’re not heard, but neither are they seen. Children and parents become virtual strangers.”
The Monaco royal family lives about eight months of the year in a private apartment within the palace. Added to the apartment they occupy are several rooms that comprise the children’s nursery.
The nursery suite is on the first floor of the palace, facing west and looking over the magnificent gardens. The main nursery room is an immense chamber, about 20 by 40 feet, high ceilinged, light, wonderfully airy. It’s all done in primroseyellow and white, with white wicker furniture and sliding glass doors that open to a terrace. From there, the family can descend a flight of steps into the garden.
Each child has a nurse—Albert’s is a Swiss woman, Caroline’s is British. At-tached to the main chamber are a nurse s room, kitchenette and a large dressing room lined with closets and drawers for the children’s things.
Princess Caroline is constantly puttering about with her collection of dolls and stuffed animals, and she is especially fond of flowers. She picks these herself from the palace gardens, and she’s rarely with-out a bloom of some kind in her tiny hand.
Another big favorite with the Princess is her pony cart, which is kept at a villa Prince Rainier built in France, about 30 minutes by car from Monaco. Caroline loves to be taken on rides along the nearby paths.
Both the little prince and princess sleep in the large nursery chamber, which can be divided into separate rooms by sliding screens. Prince Rainier plays with the children in the morning after breakfast, then joins them in the garden following their afternoon naps. He’s with them once again in the evening, before their bedtime.
A Busy Schedule
Princess Grace is nearly always with them, though she has her own busy schedule, which includes attendance at manv official events, supervising and planning frequent palace functions such as dinners of state and answering voluminous correspondence. As mistress of the huge royal residence, she must see that it operates smoothly and economically.
Rainier and Grace agree on all major pioblems of child-raising, especially on the grave question of safeguarding their youngsters from the abnormal stresses that their public positions can create, yet imbuing them with their responsibilities.
“We both have one deeply rooted wish for our children,” His Highness explained. “We pray that they might become fine, decent human beirigs, able to serve their fellow men. To this end, we want them to develop in as normal an atmosphere as possible. All our plans for them are centered toward this goal.
“On the question of schooling, perhaps the boy will attend an excellent preparatory school in Switzerland, where he will be in contact with other lads his age. But since he’s barely a year old, there’s still time to make that decision.”
That Prince Rainier is an adept man around infants and toddlers is evidenced by the following:
Item: He has helped diaper both Caroline and Albert.
Item: He has, on occasion, given both children their bottles and burped them. (“Caroline has a good appetite, but that boy! He eats like a vacuum cleaner!”)
Item: He has firmly and capably handled those rare occasions when Princess Caroline gives her parents a rough time by throwing a temper tantrum. (“It became quite plain that the more attention she got, the more she was likely to carry on. So we ignore them. It’s remarkable how well this works.”)
A Cry of Pain
How about those frightening moments that occur in all families, the ones that make a parent’s heart skip beats? This happened not long ago in Monaco:
Princess Caroline was walking in the grounds of their villa north of Monaco, her left hand held by a nursemaid. Suddenly she stumbled and pitched forward. To keep the little girl from striking the ground, the maid pulled her upright by the hand she was grasping. In her anxiety to prevent a bad fall, the woman appar-ently yanked too hard. Caroline cried out in pain and clutched her shoulder. Her right arm dangled at her side.
“It was a terrifying moment,” the Prince recalled. “Caroline was howling, Princess Grace was alarmed, the maid was hysterical. We were all afraid the arm was broken. Certainly it wasn’t the maid’s fault —she had only tried to protect the child.
“I picked up Caroline, put her in a car with Princess Grace, got behind the wheel myself and rushed down to the office of an X-ray specialist in Monaco a short distance away.
“We all gathered around, wondering and worrying, as the wise doctor sat Caroline down and produced several brightly colored picture books. The little girl stared at them—then stretched out both arms and took the books! Her tears vanished and she was soon engrossed in the pictures.
“It proved there was nothing wrong— a pulled muscle at worst. Everyone breathed easier, and then the father collapsed!”
But if there were scary moments, there were shining ones, too—that first walking step, for example. It can give even royalty an unforgettable memory. Prince Rainier recalled the day:
“Caroline was 11 months old and it was Christmas time. For many weeks she had been able to pull herself upright and get around by holding onto things. On this day, I held her—and suddenly she took off by herself.
“She walked, very wobbly but all by herself, to her mother across the room. It seemed like ages but she finally made it.
“It was a moving experience. There was anxiety, pride and a little sadness, too, because Grace and I realized right then that she was growing out of the baby stage.
“Incidentally, she walked for onlv a day or two. She’s been running ever since!”
The Prince, like many fathers, has dipped into the child-care books but relies mainly on his own parental instincts. “Certainly guides can he extremely useful in giving parents a deeper understanding of child behavior in general,” he said, “but total reliance on them is another matter. Too many parents these days seem to mis-trust their natural feelings and are allow-ing the books to do their thinking and feeling for them.”
It was time to go. As I got up, the Prince explained that he was eager to get back to Caroline and Albert. And every father who has ever gone off with his wife will know what he meant.
He missed the kids.
The American Weekly (March 22, 1959)
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