The House of Grimaldi, Monaco's royal family, is notorious for its turbulent history marked by scandals and personal tragedies. Prince Rainier III's ascent to power was marred by his parents' unhappy marriage and his sister Antoinette's scheming to secure the throne for her son. Rainier's marriage to Grace Kelly was seen as a fairytale but was plagued by rumors and familial discord, particularly with Antoinette. The tragic car accident that claimed Grace's life left a profound impact on the family, particularly her daughter Stéphanie, who was also in the car. The family's misfortunes continued with failed relationships and scandals, perpetuating a legend of a curse that claims no Grimaldi will find happiness in marriage.

Prince Rainier III grew up witnessing his parents' troubled marriage, exacerbated by his mother's affairs and his father's alleged homosexuality, which instilled in him a sense of the complexities of royal life.

Antoinette, Rainier's sister, harbored bitterness over the succession laws that favored her brother and actively schemed to disrupt his romantic relationships to secure the throne for her own lineage.

Rainier's marriage to Hollywood actress Grace Kelly was initially seen as a glamorous union, but it was fraught with familial discord, particularly with Antoinette spreading rumors and causing strife.

The tragic car accident that resulted in Grace Kelly's death in 1982 deeply affected the family, especially her daughter Stéphanie, who was in the car and faced severe injuries and trauma.

The Grimaldi family has been plagued by numerous scandals and failed relationships, leading to a popular belief in a curse that no Grimaldi will find happiness in marriage, as seen in the recurring patterns of heartbreak and scandal in their history.

Royally Dysfunctional

Anyone who thinks money, power, or fame can solve any issue has clearly never heard of the Grimaldis and the web of drama the royal family of Monaco has woven over just the last century. Although many may see all the tragedy and poor choices that each family member has suffered as an example of how power corrupts, others may posit a different—more supernatural—cause.  

1. They Were Living A Lie

Misery always seemed to follow the Grimaldis, and in the 20th century alone, its members never could separate relationships from their family’s messy streak. Prince Rainier III was Monaco’s first sovereign Prince born post-1900, but even before he came to power, he saw how unhappy a royal marriage could be. 

In time, it became clear that his parents resented each other due to his mother’s multiple affairs and his father’s alleged homosexuality. Unfortunately, Rainier couldn’t exactly rely on his sister amid this turmoil.

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2. She Had A Rude Awakening

Born on May 31, 1923, Prince Rainier wasn’t his parents’ firstborn, although he would later take the throne. His older sister, Antoinette, had been born three years earlier and learned at an early age of her position in the royal line. Due to Monaco’s laws of succession, her younger brother ranked above her, and the bitterness of this realization festered.

Of course, she and her brother would be in for another conflict.

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3. They Were Over

As the years went on, Rainier and Antoinette’s parents could only fight for so long before giving in. Unofficially separating in the 1920s, Princess Charlotte and Prince Pierre wouldn’t legally divorce until 1933, when she moved in with her new partner. Her father, the current sovereign Prince Louis II, banished Prince Pierre.

Still, all this drama wouldn’t keep their children from eventual relationships of their own.

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4. She Started Dating

Fast-forwarding a decade, Princess Antoinette began a serious relationship with tennis player Alexandre-Athenase Noghès. Throughout their time together in the 1940s, they would welcome two daughters and a son, the first being Elizabeth-Ann in 1947. At the same time, her brother had other things to worry about.

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5. He Stepped Up

With his father banished from the principality, Prince Rainier III was next in line for the throne, a responsibility that fell to him with the passing of his grandfather, Prince Louis II, on May 9, 1949. Now 25 years old and having already served the Free French Army in WWII, Rainier took up this new line of duty and became the Sovereign Prince of Monaco.

Following this, his sister had her own ceremony.

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6. They Made It Official

Princess Antoinette and Alexandre-Athenase Noghès had three children, but, as they were all born out of wedlock, none were considered heirs to the throne. The two sought to remedy this and finally married on December 4, 1951—ultimately legitimizing their children. She wasn’t the only one who found love, however.

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7. He Fell In Love

Starting in the 1940s, Prince Rainier dated a French actress named Gisèle Pascal for nearly a decade, having met her while attending Montpellier University. Unfortunately, while they seemed to love each other, one significant detail got in the way. The word on the street was that Gisèle was infertile.

Sadly, this posed more than a small problem.

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8. He Couldn’t Go On

Prince Rainier had a difficult decision, made even worse by the pressure coming from his family. Gisèle wasn’t from a noble family, but even worse in the eyes of the royals was the rumor that she was infertile. Without the possibility of an heir from Gisèle, and despite his feelings for her, Rainier broke things off with the actress.

Shockingly, things weren’t as they seemed.

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9. She Planned It All

Although Rainier had broken up with Gisèle over her infertility, the truth would become apparent a decade later when she had a child of her own with another man. As it turns out, Rainier’s sister Antoinette orchestrated the whole thing, spreading the horrible rumor to break the couple up and make way for her son Christian to take the throne later.

This plan of hers wouldn’t last long, though.

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10. He Found Someone Else

While he may have been previously heartbroken, Rainier would soon find someone else, thanks to the Cannes Film Festival in 1955. With it being so close to Monaco, Rainier invited Academy Award winner Grace Kelly to visit his palace. The two met, and Rainier felt infatuated with her.

However, the timing wasn’t great.

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11. She Was With Someone Else

Although Rainier had become enamored by Grace, someone stood in his way, namely her boyfriend Jean-Pierre Aumont. Still, Grace seemed equally taken with Rainier, and even when the festival ended and she went back to the US, the two constantly wrote to each other until she was eventually single.

He wouldn’t waste his chance.

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12. He Went Out On A Limb

After writing to each other for a year, Rainier finally took a leap of faith and flew to Pennsylvania one Christmas in 1955. Like a mix of several storylines in Love Actually, the Prince showed up at the Kelly family home, likely taking Grace by surprise as he pulled out a ring and asked for her hand.

Still, something sinister was brewing behind the scenes.

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13. They Took Advantage

In 1956, Rainier and Grace married in what many considered the “wedding of the century”. However, not everyone was rooting for them, and his sister Antoinette continued her scheming. Having divorced her husband and taken a new lover named Jean-Charles Rey, the two spread more rumors of Rainier’s involvement in a recent banking scandal.

Finally, someone was fed up.

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14. She Was Ruthless

Grace had finally had enough of Antoinette’s conspiring and took matters into her own hands. Surprising her conniving new sister-in-law, Grace informed her that she was henceforth banished from Monaco and could never return unless Rainier allowed it. Although shocked and livid, Antoinette couldn’t refuse the order and left immediately.

Free from this unpleasantness, Rainier and Grace tried to build a life.

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15. They Made A Family

A year after their marriage, Grace and Rainier welcomed their first child into their mixed-up family—a daughter named Caroline. Like her aunt Antoinette, Caroline was the heir for only a short time before her brother came along, this time a year later with the birth of Prince Albert II. After a few more years, they would welcome their youngest Princess Stéphanie in 1965.

Of course, no mother is perfect, including Grace Kelly.

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16. She Was Overbearing

Perhaps looking to avoid the family’s reputation for bad relationships, Grace took more than a passing interest in her son’s relationship efforts. At 19 years old, Albert began courting actress Cathy Lee Crosby—then ten years his elder. Grace had already planned to set him up with Princess Astrid of Belgium, so she demanded he break things off with Crosby.

At the same time, others were equally interested in Grace’s relationships.

Biography (1987– ), Grace Kelly: Hollywood Princess, A+E Networks

17. They Told Stories

Grace had entered her marriage with a long list of past relationships, and as a prince, Rainier was subject to constant rumors. As such, the press had a field day perpetuating gossip that she had continued a romance with Cary Grant and that the Prince entertained many mistresses behind her back.

Outside of Monaco, another Grimaldi was tying the knot.

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18. She Remarried

When Princess Antoinette left Monaco in exile, she took her lover—Jean-Charles Rey—with her. To his credit, he stuck by her through all of her scheming and banishment, and the two finally committed to each other, marrying on December 2, 1961. However, she wouldn’t have to wait too much longer for her luck to improve.

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19. She Backtracked

Fortunately for Antoinette, her exile didn’t last forever, and Prince Rainier allowed her to return several years later. Although Grace likely wasn’t too happy about it, she had no choice but to backpedal on her previous decision. The royal family had run into a bit of bad publicity as of late, and Antoinette’s return was necessary to provide a unified front.

Just because she was back, it didn’t mean things were perfect.

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20. They Were Finished

Antoinette had returned, but it wasn’t long before she endured another loss of love. The stability of her marriage to Jean-Charles Rey had deteriorated over their years of banishment, and she went through with her second divorce in 1974. As fate would have it, the trend of bad relationships was hereditary.

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21. She Met A Bad Man

Although Rainier and Grace’s first daughter Caroline had an interest in many pursuits, she grew up feeling the typical expectation to marry someone. Unfortunately, this led to her falling in with a more unscrupulous banker, Philippe Junot. Meeting when she was 19 and he was 36, they married in 1978 despite her parents’ objections.

Luckily, her time with him wouldn’t last.

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22. They Separated

From the moment Princess Caroline met Philippe, his womanizing attitude and tendency to belittle her were evident, and it didn’t get better once they married. The marriage only lasted two years, and Caroline moved back in with Grace and Rainier. Sadly, greater heartbreak was on the way.

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23. Her Brain Hemorrhaged

A few years later, the usual misery of the Grimaldis went beyond the bounds of relationships when Grace’s life ended violently and tragically. On September 13, 1982, while driving with her daughter, Princess Stéphanie, something horrific happened. Grace suffered a stroke and lost control of the car, which drove off the mountainside she was driving along.

Amid the chaos, her daughter tried to help.

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24. She Tried To Save Them

At only 17 years old, Princess Stéphanie watched in horror as the car swerved toward the road’s edge. Sitting in the passenger seat, she attempted to steer them to safety but was unsuccessful. The vehicle plummeted 100 feet before crashing, and although paramedics brought them to the hospital, both mother and daughter suffered severe injuries.

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25. He Made A Horrible Choice

Both Grace and Stéphanie were seriously injured, but doctors expected them to recover. Tragically, this outlook changed when Grace suffered another brain hemorrhage in the hospital, placing her in a coma. Prince Rainier learned there was virtually no chance of her waking up, so on September 14, 1982, he agreed to take her off of life support.

Afterward, the crash took even more from Stéphanie.

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26. She Was Too Hurt

News of her mother’s passing devastated Stéphanie, but things got even worse following this. The Princess had survived but sustained several injuries ranging from a mild concussion to a hairline fracture on her cervical vertebrae. These proved so severe that she was unable to attend her mother’s funeral.

In the wake of this loss, Albert tried to take his mind off it.

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27. He Coped In Other Ways

People deal with grief in different ways, and as for Prince Albert, he didn’t turn to drinking or other unhealthy substances. Following Grace’s passing, he threw himself into relationship after relationship, often dating high-profile women such as Gregory Peck’s daughter Cecilia, Roger Moore’s daughter Deborah, and actress Jean Simmons.

Meanwhile, Antoinette experienced her own heartbreak.

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28. She Lost Someone Else

In the early 1980s, Princess Antoinette found love again when she met John Brian Gilpin, a British ballet dancer. Although they married in July 1983, their happiness would be short-lived. Just six weeks into their life as a married couple, John suffered a severe heart attack and tragically perished.

Fortunately, her niece was having better luck.

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29. She Truly Fell In Love

Princess Caroline’s love life got a major upgrade coming off the back of her horrible relationship with Philippe Junot. In the 1980s, she met Italian industrial heir Stefano Casiraghi, who was nothing less than a gentleman to her. They eventually married in 1983, and from the following year till 1987, they would have three children.

However, Caroline and their children weren’t the only big parts of his life.

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30. He Needed One More Shot

Stefano Casiraghi’s family wasn’t his only love, as he was passionate about speedboat racing as well. Of course, as he transitioned from a thrill-seeking bachelor to a husband and father, Princess Caroline tried to convince him to stop racing as it was too dangerous. Ultimately, he agreed to stop racing—after defending his title in one more season.

This was a grave mistake.

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31. He Had An Accident

Resolved to give up his life of racing after his last season, Stefano made it to his final race in 1990 before catastrophe struck. Seemingly without reason, his boat flipped in the middle of the race, resulting in a devastating crash. Stefano’s co-pilot Patrice Innocenti was lucky enough to survive the accident, but Stefano tragically passed.

Shortly after this, Caroline’s brother would deal with his own family issues.

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32. She Fought Him

Prince Albert had a reputation for being a bit of a player, which eventually caught up with him when a waitress named Tamara Jean Rotolo claimed he was the father of her baby. Albert refuted this immediately, and Tamara filed a lawsuit against him, but he was able to get the case dismissed on a technicality.

Of course, he wasn’t the last of his siblings to have a baby.

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33. She Started Her Own Family

Princess Stéphanie started her most serious relationship yet in 1992 by dating her bodyguard, Daniel Ducruet. That same year, she gave birth to his and her first child, Louis Ducruet, and they welcomed their second, Pauline, two years later. Since Stéphanie and Daniel hadn’t married, their children weren’t legitimate.

However, it wouldn’t always be this way.

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34. They Tied The Knot

Having spent several years together, Stéphanie and Daniel married on July 1, 1995, legitimizing their children. This way, Louis and Pauline joined the line of royal succession, but their parents' union wasn’t meant to go much further. The Princess and her bodyguard divorced the following year.

Still, she wasn’t finished having children.

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35. Her Child Was A Mystery

In 1998, Princess Stéphanie gave birth to her third child, Camille, but this time was different. Initially, she refused to divulge the father’s identity, but speculations ran wild among the public. As she had a history of dating her security guards, many theorized that the father was Head of Security Jean Raymond Gottlieb, which Camille later agreed with.

Concerning Stéphanie’s older sister, she got back in the game.

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36. He Left His Wife

By the end of the 1990s, Princess Caroline got right back on the horse and entered another relationship. However, she couldn’t avoid being the center of more drama as the man she dated was a member of another royal family—and already married. However, in 1997, Prince Ernst August of Hanover divorced his wife for Caroline.

Sadly, all the siblings were in for more heartbreak.

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37. His Health Deteriorated

Prince Rainier III never emotionally recovered from the loss of Grace Kelly, and his physical health similarly worsened in the early 2000s. By 2005, years of unhealthy habits had caught up to him and had him spending more and more time in the hospital. Finally, after his diminishing condition put him on a ventilator, he passed on April 6 of that year.

While all his children grieved, one undoubtedly felt even worse.

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38. He Left Her Out

In the wake of Prince Rainier’s passing, when his inheritance was being distributed, his children were likely shocked at how it was divided. While Caroline and Albert received most of his estate, Stéphanie’s life of rebellion and going against the flow upset her father enough to leave her only 1% of his money.

Meanwhile, Caroline’s new marriage wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

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39. He Was Dangerous

Unfortunately, Princess Caroline’s newest husband had much more in common with her first than her late second. After leaving his wife for Caroline, Prince Ernst reportedly refused to give up his philandering ways. Add that to his anger issues and addiction to drinking, and it resulted in yet another miserable marriage for Caroline.

Around the same time, her brother had some unfinished business.

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40. She Had Proof

After the courts dismissed Tamara Jean Rotolo’s suit against Prince Albert, he probably thought he had finished with the whole business. However, in 2006, she resurfaced with a DNA test that confirmed Albert was the father of her child. With the proof visible to the public, he had no choice but to admit that her daughter, Jazmin, was his as well.

Still, he tried to save face.

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41. He Played It Off

Now that he couldn’t hide behind deniability, Prince Albert had to come up with a reason why he had refused to take responsibility for his illegitimate daughter. In his words, his now 14 years of absence and attempts to get Tamara to drop the whole thing were only because he wanted to protect Jazmin’s privacy.

This wasn’t the only time this happened, though.

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42. He Had Another Accuser

Since Prince Rainier III had passed, Prince Albert was next in line, and three months after the funeral, he took the throne as Monaco’s new Sovereign Prince. Just two months earlier, however, another woman named Nicole Coste also claimed he was the father of her child. Albert had nowhere to run, considering she included DNA proof in her claim.

Of course, this ended the same way.

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43. He Had No Choice

According to Nicole Coste’s story, Albert had placed her and her son in a Paris apartment under the guise that she was his friend’s girlfriend. However, once she came forward with the DNA test and pictures showing Albert holding their son, the Prince had no option but to accept Alexandre Coste as his child.

Naturally, he could only avoid settling down for so long.

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44. He Finally Married

Prince Albert had a long history with the Olympics, competing in bobsleigh five times at the Winter Olympics. Having enjoyed many athletic ventures, it makes sense that when he settled down, it was with an Olympian. Having met in 2000, Albert and South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock hit it off and announced their relationship in 2006.

Not long after this, another marriage bit the dust.

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45. She Caught Him

Princess Caroline had stayed with Prince Ernst through all of his temper and drinking, even when the latter put him in a coma in 2005. Although he recovered, he allegedly took this loyalty as rumors of his infidelity continued to swirl. Understandably, the two have remained separated since 2009.

Following this, the last of the older generation passed on.

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46. She Grew Old

Although she was the older sibling, Princess Antoinette had outlived her brother Rainier by about six years. Reaching the age of 90, she lived long enough to see Prince Albert take the throne and cut her son out of the line of succession. Then, on March 18, 2011, she passed while staying at The Princess Grace Hospital Centre.

At the same time, another union proved bittersweet.

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47. She Sank Lower

Over a decade after Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock met, they finally tied the knot on July 1, 2011. This caused friction between Charlene and Princess Caroline since, up until that marriage, Caroline had been Monaco’s first lady. Not only that, but as soon as Charlene gave birth to twins in 2014, Caroline moved even lower in the line of succession.

Surprisingly, Caroline wasn’t the only one unhappy about this marriage.

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48. She Was Hesitant

Around the time of Albert and Charlene’s marriage, as with any Grimaldi, the press scrutinized him and his bride-to-be. Rumors spread that Charlene was having serious second thoughts about the wedding. These were only bolstered by how uncomfortable she looked during the ceremony, constantly crying and even recoiling from her and Albert’s kiss.

These feelings appeared to grow stronger over the years.

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49. She Stayed Away

Although Albert and Charlene are still together, as recently as 2021, the public has seen evidence of their unhappiness. That year, Charlene traveled home to South Africa, where she contracted an ENT illness that kept her there until the following year. While this may be true, many believe she just needed to get away from her husband.

Of course, all these relationship issues could have a more mystical explanation.

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50. They Were Cursed

While it’s common for any family in the spotlight to have lives afflicted by drama and scandal, a popular legend claims that the Grimaldis are a bit different. While the story varies, it usually tells of a family member from centuries ago who mistreated the wrong person and suffered the price. 

As a result, a witch allegedly placed a curse upon the royals, saying, “Never will a Grimaldi find happiness in marriage”.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16