But the Grimaldis are all grown up now. Prince Albert II and his lawyers have resolved the paternity suits that dogged him, acknowledging fatherhood of a boy and a girl born to different women. Princess Caroline has settled down with a German prince. Even Princess Stephanie has dropped off the society pages.
During a recent interview, Albert, 49, now in charge of the principality, reflected on the event that helped send him and his sisters into their difficult years: the sudden death of their mother, the former Grace Kelly, whose wedding to Prince Rainier III of Monaco took place in the days before the news media made public fodder of royalty's private indiscretions.
"It's obvious that it was difficult for all of us," the prince said. "It took me a while to get over it and try to help my family, help my father as much as possible."
Now, 25 years later, the children are commemorating their mother's life by exhibiting some of her most personal possessions. Hundreds of objects, from letters to dresses, go on display here next week. A separate, smaller exhibition will travel to Sotheby's in New York in October.
Princess Grace was 52 on Sept. 13, 1982, when she careered off a hairpin turn while driving to the palace from the family's mountain retreat, Roc Agel. Her green Rover tumbled 120 feet before coming to rest upside down. She died the next day.
"She had just left the family property, and I was still up there and I had seen her because she came in to my room to try and get me out of bed," Albert recalled. "I was still having breakfast when we heard the news from my father."
The death was hardest on Stephanie, who was also in the car. She was 17 and had been locked in a battle with her mother over her affair with Paul Belmondo, race-car driver and son of French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. She survived with minor injuries.
