Grace Kelly would have encouraged Meghan Markle to pass down American traditions to her royal baby, says movie star’s nephew
Grace Kelly's (right) nephew spoke to Fox News about what the American actress-turned-royal would have told Meghan Markle (left). (Reuters)
Grace Kelly’s nephew Chris LeVine believed his movie star-turned-royal aunt would have given Meghan Markle plenty of advice about surviving the media scrutiny as a new mother.
Markle, the 37-year-old American actress who became the Duchess of Sussex after her May wedding to Britain’s Prince Harry, 34, is expecting her first child.
LeVine, who works closely with the Princess Grace Foundation-USA to perpetuate the legacy of the former Alfred Hitchcock muse, told Fox News Kelly was determined to protect their three children as they grew up in the public eye.
The American movie icon and Oscar winner married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, after meeting him the year before during the Cannes Film Festival.
“[The media scrutiny] was something that certainly concerned my aunt back when her children were growing up,” LeVine told Fox News. “That’s escalated since then. She thought back then the media was oppressive. If she could have seen the media today, I could only imagine her discomfort with trying to keep her feet on the ground, so to speak. That was one of her major challenges, I think, in raising her children.”
Kelly left behind Hollywood to embark on her new role as a princess when she married Rainier. However, according to LeVine Kelly never forgot her roots. In fact, she was determined to maintain several American traditions within the palace. Kelly and her children also spent time in the United States each year to ensure that the family ties there remained as strong as those in Monaco.
Kelly died in 1982 at age 52 from injuries she suffered in a car crash in France.
Princess Grace Kelly with her firstborn, Prince Albert. (Getty)
“Certainly her advice back then was to maintain the family time, the family traditions that she learned from her parents, continuing the family dinners and meals,” said LeVine. “Her goal was always to bring the kids over to the States. That was really apparent. They always came over in the summers.”
And Kelly made sure to introduce her children, Princesses Caroline and Stephanie, as well as Prince Albert, her love for Philadelphia, which LeVine insisted never left her.