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In 1956, the world watched as American actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco. It was one of the first major media events surrounding a celebrity marriage, comparable only to the hype of Queen Elizabeth II's marriage to Prince Philip. But Grace Kelly's marriage had far deeper implications than just a man marrying a woman. But joining her wealthy family with the royal family of Monaco, she essentially insured the tiny principality's future prosperity. And one man was responsible for the whole affair.
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In 1956, the world watched as American actress Grace Kelly
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married Prince Regnier of Monaco. But Grace Kelly's marriage had far deeper implications
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than just a man marrying a woman. Joining her wealthy family with the royal family of Monaco
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she essentially ensured the tiny principality's future prosperity. And one man was responsible for the whole affair
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So today, we're going to take a look at how a billionaire oil tycoon forced Grace Kelly
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into royal marriage. Aristotle Socrates Onassis was a lot more than just some guy named after a slew of Greek
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philosophers. Born in 1906 in what was then Smyrna, and today a part of Turkey, Onassis was a huge
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player in the business world long before he became one of Monaco's most powerful figures
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He began with his own cigarette company before going into the more lucrative shipping business
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during World War II. He was a millionaire by the age of 25
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and had business relationships in countries around the globe. He became a shipping magnate and eventually built himself up
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into one of the world's richest men. Amazingly, though, that wasn't even
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his most noteworthy accomplishment, because if you've heard of him, you likely know him as the guy who married Jackie Kennedy
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after the death of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. Anasas had a lot of money invested in Monaco
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when it ran into trouble after World War II. But he also had a plan to get everything
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back on track, and he saw Grace Kelly's marriage to the prince as the key to bringing glory and
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wealth back to Monaco. While the idea of saving a nation by marrying a prince to a movie star
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may sound like the far-fetched plot of romantic comedy, Onassis turned out to be right
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The Principality of Monaco is located along the Mediterranean Sea, nine miles west of the French city of Nice and five miles east of the Italian border
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With a total area of less than one square mile, Monaco is the second smallest sovereign state in
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the world, the smallest being Vatican City. While its government is a constitutional monarchy
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the country has been ruled by the House of Grimaldi almost continuously since 1297
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Not a bad run. During World War II, Monaco fell into control of the Axis powers. It was briefly
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ruled by Italy, after which it came directly under the control of Nazi Germany. After it was
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liberated, Monaco's economy was struggling, which became a problem for the small principality
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It also became a problem for Aristotle Onassis who had a large portion of his wealth invested in the Casino de Monte Carlo To solve his financial problems Onassis came up with a creative solution His intention was to turn Monaco into a playground where wealthy patrons could mingle with movie stars and members of Hollywood elite
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According to Robert Evans' book, The Fat Lady Sang, Onassis' exact words to Prince Renier were
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Get off your royal ass and find yourself a bride. The right bride could do for Monaco's tourism what the coronation of Queen Elizabeth did for Great Britain
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That's a romantic line. Straight out of a tour guide fairy tale
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In 1949, the French government granted an Irish businessman named Charles Michelson
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the right to shortwave radio and television in Monaco. To exploit those rights, Michelson founded a company called Images & Sans
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and then granted his interest in the company to Prince Regnier III, keeping a generous financial
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stake for himself. It was a good plan. But in 1955, the French government took those radio
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and television rights back, and the whole thing collapsed. The Société Monégasque du Banque et
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du Métail-Préçu, or Monégasque Banking and Precious Metals Company, was heavily invested in
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Imagesan and was driven into bankruptcy by the whole affair. After that, control went to Aristotle
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Onassis. Astoundingly, more than half of Monaco's wealth was tied up in the company
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which oversaw casino, several hotels, and various tourist attractions. Most of Prince Regnier's personal wealth was also tied up in the business before it went under
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Selecting a person to become the future princess of a country, even a tiny one like Monaco
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was no easy task. One choice for the literal leading role of lady was Marilyn Monroe
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but she didn't quite fit the bill. For one thing, she was already in a relationship with Arthur
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Miller. She also, according to producer Robert Evans, didn't know where Monaco was on the map
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which was obviously less than optimal. But then again, who watching this video could
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locate Monaco on a map? Grace Kelly was another clear frontrunner. At the time
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Kelly was a world-famous actress who had won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1952
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and had appeared in such now classic films like the Gary Cooper Western High Noon and Alfred Hitchcock's Dial Him for Murder
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Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief. Though she eventually won the competition to marry Renier
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there were doubts at the beginning of the process. Robert Evans, with whom she had an affair in 1950
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wrote a scathing summary of why he thought she was a poor choice for princess Our Serene Highness was well known in Hollywood for playing summer camp with most every leading man she flicked with There wasn a microscope on Earth powerful enough
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to find a virginal spot on her soon-to-be royal anatomy. Robert Evans, keeping it classy
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In 1955, Grace Kelly attended the Cannes Film Festival. And while she was there, she received
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an invitation to attend a photo session with Prince Renier at the Royal Palace of Monaco
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The meeting almost didn't happen, though. Why not? Well, the prince was so late that Kelly almost
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left. Luckily, he caught her just in time, and the two had a chance to get to know each other
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and explore the palace grounds. The romance, though pretty much entirely staged, took off
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from there, with the prince visiting America soon after. After the 1955 Cannes Film Festival
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Grace Kelly went back to America to shoot a movie called The Swan, in which she, oddly enough
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played a princess. There are many other amusing coincidences and connections between the character
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Kelly played in the film and her real life. For example, she is matched with Prince Albert in the
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film and later named her son, Albert. With publicity working overtime going both ways
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the premiere of The Swan was delayed until the wedding day of Grace and her real-life prince
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It was a huge publicity stunt for MGM. You might think the prince would be angry about his wedding
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being planned around a movie opening, but it also added to the hype that Aristotle Onassis was
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creating for the wedding and Monaco itself, so everybody was cool with it
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As incredible as it may seem, when Grace became engaged to Prince Regnier, she and her family
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were told that she would need to pay a dowry of $2 million. This reportedly upset her father at
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first. It's not that they didn't have the money. Grace's father, Jack, was a self-made man. He had
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begun his professional career as a bricklayer, but later earned his fortune as a contractor
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Grace herself had had a successful, though as yet short, career as an actress by the age of 26
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and had some money to her own name as well. What upset Jack was the sheer indignity of it all
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He claimed, my daughter doesn't have to pay any man to marry her, and he was technically right
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Grace actually broke off an existing engagement to fashion designer Oleg Cassini in order to
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marry the prince. However, the dowry was paid in the end, and good thing too
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In truth, Monaco was nearly broke, and the $2 million was somewhat of an investment
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It helped get the country back on track to becoming a small yet wealthy nation built on gambling It even been claimed in multiple biographies that Grace paid for half of the dowry herself The other half was drawn from her inheritance so that she wouldn be taking money from her siblings Just as Aristotle Onassis had planned the wedding of Grace Kelly
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and Prince Regnier was a true media spectacle. There were 1,800 photographers and reporters
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waiting for the future Princess Grace when she arrived from America for the wedding
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The April 18, 1956 event had been described as one of the earliest cases of media overkill
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and was watched by an estimated 30 million people. The wedding consisted of a private religious ceremony and a separate, more public civil ceremony
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The civil ceremony was attended by 3,000 of Monaco's citizens, and the religious ceremony
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was attended by 700 guests. Those guests included American royalties such as Conrad Hilton, Ava Gardner, and Cary Grant
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It was one of the first major media events surrounding a celebrity marriage
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comparable at the time only to the hype of Queen Elizabeth II's marriage to Prince Philip
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It was widely known that Aristotle Onassis was the man who orchestrated Prince Regnier's search
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for a wife. He was deeply involved right from the beginning and was said to have overseen all of the
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details when it came to the planning of the wedding itself. When the big day came, he watched it all
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unfold from the deck of his yacht. Both Prince Regnier and Aristotle Onassis held high levels
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of power in Monaco. Unfortunately, they had differing ideas of the direction the country
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should be heading. Regnier wanted to fully develop the tiny principality into a wide range of
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commercial properties, but Onassis wanted to cultivate the image of Monaco as a Disneyland-esque
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playground for the wealthy. The two were bound to buttheads, and they continued to struggle for the
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power to guide the nation. However, as powerful as Onassis was, he lost. In 1964, Prince Regnier
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regained control of the Société des Bains de Mer, and Onassis all but fled Monaco
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Regnier's determination to modernize the country and create an alliance with America via his
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marriage changed his own former image as a playboy and reckless royal, while boosting
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Monaco's tourism, just as Aristotle Onassis had predicted. During the 1960s, Monaco became a tax
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Haven for other wealthy tycoons, as well as an exotic international tourism destination
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He also revived the distinguished auto race, the Grand Prix de Monaco. And after a brief
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financial crisis in the early 1960s, he had regained control of the principality's business
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dealings and revived its commercial and real estate markets
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