Grace Kelly's Strange 'Encounter' On A Train That Completely Upended Her Life

Ever since she was young, Grace Kelly understood what a wealthy life looked like, but it would never bring her happiness. Her childhood was difficult, as her parents were uncaring and body image insecurities chipped away at Grace's confidence. Nevertheless, she dreamed of becoming an actor, which would have her following in the footsteps of two big names close to her.

Two of her uncles, Walter and George Kelly, were both renowned actors in the U.S. Hoping to match their success while making her goal-oriented parents proud, Grace acted in school plays to build up her self-esteem. As she grew into adulthood, a relentless string of romances would temporarily distract her from her goals, but that wasn't the love she needed at the time.

Grace's parents never believed in her dreams. They even laughed when Grace's acting instructor — and secret lover, at the time — told them that she could be a huge success. What they really wanted was for her to "grow up to marry some nice boy." Fed up with their callousness, Grace wanted to prove her worth to the world.

The romances never really stopped coming, but neither did Grace's resilience. After working through acting school and supporting herself through a modeling job, she made her break as an actor in a series of live television dramas. She performed in about 60 of those before making her real debut in 1952.

The 24-year-old had been working in television for a couple of years. Then, she received a huge role in High Noon, a classic Western co-starring Gary Cooper. The film won a total of four Oscars and made $18 million at the box office, and most importantly, it put Grace Kelly's name on the map.

The next year, Grace proved she was no one-hit-wonder. In the adventure flick Mogambo, she traded lines with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner, and the part nabbed her an Oscar nomination. Though she didn't come away with the prize, suddenly everyone in Hollywood was clamoring to work with her.

Grace's talent was finally accepted by Hollywood, and in 1954 alone she worked twice with legendary director Alfred Hitchcock in his films Dial M For Murder and Rear Window. It was her next successful role that would lead to her fateful encounter.

At this point in her life, Grace Kelly was on top of the world, but there was something missing — she wanted to feel loved. While her acting career was booming, her personal life was a bit of a mess. Affairs with co-stars went nowhere, but it would be after accepting her third award in a row for Best Actress that she'd finally be on the right track.

Grace won the awards for Best Actress for her films Dial M For Murder and Rear Window, but when she accepted the Oscar for the 1954 film The Country Girl, she was given an invitation to present the film at the Cannes Film Festival that May. She'd have to travel to the French city by train, and that ride would change her life forever.

Grace hurried down the platform of Paris' Gare de Lyon station to catch her ride along the upper-class luxury train known as "Le Train Bleu." After rushing on board, the starlet was on her way to the Cannes Film Festival. As she relaxed on the luxury night train, a plan was formed by people she had never met before.

While in transit, Grace bumped into another famed actress of the time, Olivia de Havilland, who extended the invitation that would change Grace's life. Olivia concocted the plan with her newlywed husband Pierre Galante, an editor for the publication Paris-Match, along with his boss, editor-in-chief Gaston Bonheur. They saw an opportunity to sell lots of papers.

The Gone With The Wind actress and her husband were on their way to visit a member of Monaco's royal family. After they learned Grace Kelly was on the same train as them, they asked her to join for a photo-op. After Grace and the Prince agreed to meet everything was set in motion. "I’m tempted to think it was destiny," Olivia said in hindsight.

Grace joined her new friends at the palace of Prince Rainier III. After a bit of trouble on the way due to traffic and a nearby strike, they arrived at their destination, but the Prince was even more fashionably late. Grace had already been given a full tour of his 225 room palace, so when he finally arrived, the Prince offered to take her to his private zoo. That was when the publicity stunt turned into something else entirely.

In spite of the day's hiccups, Grace found the Prince "charming", and when they saw each other again at a festival, she offered her hand up for a kiss instead of a handshake. Olivia saw firsthand that Grace was "in a state of enchantment." By Christmas, she wasn't surprised at all to hear of their marriage announcement.

This romance between a real-life prince and the world's most famous actress seemed almost too good to be true. Grace herself admitted, "If I'd met the prince two or three years earlier, perhaps I might not have married him — at least not so soon. But we came together at the right time."

It was the fairytale wedding of the decade. Hollywood royalty Grace Kelly was to join the royal House of Grimaldi and become a princess. However, the doting public didn't realize what was happening behind the scenes. All the riches and power associated with the princess lifestyle were nothing but a fantasy.

The truth is that Grace Kelly lost a great deal in her marriage with Prince Rainier. Her earnings from her acting career, as well as family inheritance, went towards her marriage with the Prince. That was about $2 million, which would be about $20 million today. Royal love is apparently not free, and it came with an even steeper cost further down the road.

Grace Kelly became the perfect wife for the Prince and always stood by her man, even when she had other places to go. In interviews, she shared that her plan was to continue her acting career, but five years into her royal marriage, she began to drop hints that it was never going to happen.

Grace was offered another lead role in a Hitchcock film. That would've been her return to the silver screen, but she turned it down, explaining how she "felt compelled to stay in Monaco while [the Prince] tried to settle problems with France." One future interview, in particular, revealed a glimpse into Grace Kelly's new life as a royal.

The Times asked Grace if she'd continue performing while married to the Prince, but her response was less than happy news to hear. "That decision will be made by the prince," was her response. Her incredible career was over too soon, and the great starlet was left with very little for herself.

Near the end of her life, Grace only had about $10,000 to her name ($27,000 today) as well as her grandfather's old cottage in County Mayo, Ireland. The legacy she left behind is a combination of her short-lived film career, and her children, Stephanie, Caroline, Princess of Hanover, and Albert II, Prince of Monaco. When she passed away, the public was left with more questions than answers.

For one thing, there was the issue of her estate. Wealth advisor Gemma Godfrey dug into the mystery of Grace Kelly's assets in the documentary Grace Kelly: The Missing Millions. Godfrey found two wills, which covered a small number of Grace's assets, but she believed a third was missing, one which possibly involved her children.

Digging deeper into the matter, Gemma Godfrey learned about a very unfortunate truth — that everyone except Grace herself benefitted from her royal marriage. The studio MGM saw Kelly's films earn sky-high profits, and the marriage became a huge tourist attraction that brought riches to Monaco. There's no evidence that proves Grace was unhappy. But the biggest mystery is what exactly brought about the icon's death.

Was there a hidden layer to that tragic car crash? On September 13, 1982, Princess Grace was headed back to Monaco from the royal family's country home, Roc Agel, located just across the French border. Towering above Monaco at 3,766 feet, the roads surrounding the area are famously steep and narrow.

Traveling with her daughter Stéphanie, the two were carrying dresses and clothing in boxes that took up the entire back seat. Although the chauffeur offered to drive, the Princess insisted it would be more efficient if she drove, since the backseat was full.

It was well-known that the Princess was not a fan of driving, so why she insisted on taking her and her daughter alone was a little strange. Nonetheless, the two set out down the mountain in their green Rover 3500.

The road that leads from the country residence down to the Moyenne Corniche, which takes you into Monaco, is called the D37. About two miles from La Turbie, there is a particularly steep, 150-degree turn in the road, and that's where things went awry.

The car carrying Princess Grace and her daughter missed the turn completely, going through a retaining wall and tumbling 120 feet through tree branches and brush before landing in a densely forested area on the slope.

Both women were jostled to the backseat of the car as it flipped down the slope, but Stéphanie survived the accident with a broken collarbone, ribs, and hairline cervical fractures. Her mother, however, would not be so lucky.

But how exactly did the car go off the cliff? Multiple theories have surfaced due to conflicting eyewitness reports. A local bystander named Sesto Lipio claimed that he saw young Stéphanie, who was unlicensed at the time, in the driver's seat.

This theory was supported by the fact that, after the car had landed, Stéphanie exited the totaled car from the driver's side. Furthermore, her mother, who was alive immediately after the crash, just unconscious, was found in the back seat.

Was she trying to cover for her daughter? The rumor was never substantiated since other eyewitnesses did report seeing Princess Grace on the driver's side. In 2003, Stéphanie went on record to squash the rumor once and for all.

“I was not driving,” she told Paris Match. “I was thrown around inside the car like my mother... The passenger door was completely smashed in — I got out on the only accessible side, the driver's.” But the case wasn't closed.

Stéphanie's recount of the accident's details came under question, as the only person in her family she ever discussed it with was her older sister Caroline. She famously said in an interview, "I still can't talk to my dad about it because I know it hurts him and I don't want to do that."

Some have wondered whether she had been so traumatized by the event that she had blocked it out of her memory, but she insists otherwise. "I remember every minute of it," she said. "It's only in the last few years that I've been starting to cope with it."

Nonetheless, Stéphanie's account of the crash has not changed since the day it happened: Her mother was in a panic as they lost control of the car, saying that the breaks weren't working. To stop the car, Stéphanie put the gear in park.

This was supported by the investigation, which confirmed that the car was indeed found in the park position on the slope. So was there a mechanical malfunction with the breaks?

Not according to the experts. In fact, eyewitnesses claimed to see the car swerve violently before accelerating off the cliff. Stéphanie says her mother may have accidentally mixed up the brake for the accelerator. Medical reports explained how.

Princess Stéphanie recalled her mother complaining of having a headache. As it turns out, just moments before the crash, her mother's headache got worse, as a sudden sharp pain caused her to momentarily blackout. That wasn't the end of it.

After losing consciousness for a few seconds, she seemed to snap back to life, aware that she was driving, but disoriented. She accidentally slammed on the gas instead of the breaks, sending the car careening over the edge. She had just experienced a mild stroke.

Medical examinations after the accident found evidence of a mild cerebral hemorrhage, causing her to lose consciousness for a few moments. The tragic crash then caused another hemorrhage, from which she would never regain consciousness.

Princess Grace of Monaco was declared to be fully brain dead the following evening and was removed from life support. Her funeral was a lavish celebration of her life and achievements, attended by Cary Grant, Nancy Reagan, and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Despite being the subject of rumors and theories for years after the event, the medical and scientific evidence point to the clearest explanation we have for the accident. Princess Grace of Monaco will always be remembered as the epitome of Hollywood glamor and European elegance.