'We were closer to our nanny': Princess Caroline opens up about her distant relationship with her mother Grace Kelly - and reveals she and Prince Albert couldn't EAT with their parents until they were 14

  • Princess Caroline, 61, is eldest child of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco
  • Opened up about relationship in a new book to mark brother Albert's 60th 
  • Said she and Prince Albert had a closer bond with nanny Maureen Wood
  • Princess Grace would summon her back early from holiday to be with children

By Siofra Brennan For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Princess Caroline of Monaco has opened up about her relationship with her parents, admitting she and her brother Prince Albert were closer to their nanny when they were younger.

Princess Caroline, 61, who is the eldest child of US actress Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco made the revelations in a new book Albert II of Monaco, The Man and The Prince marking her brother's 60th birthday.

According to Hello! magazine, the young prince and princess couldn't even sit down for meals with their parents until they were teenagers.

'Until we were 14, we wouldn't eat with our parents,' Caroline recalled. 'For my brother and I, Maureen was the key figure in our life. 

'When we were little, we were probably closer to our nanny than to our parents.'

The youngsters were so close to Maureen that they hated it when she went away on holidays.  

'Albert and I would yell "Don’t go, don’t go!" We were sad for days,' she said. 'Most often than not, our mother would end up calling her to ask her to come home earlier than planned.'

Princess Caroline of Monaco (right) has opened up about her distant relationship with her parents Prince Rainier and Princess Grace 

Princess Caroline of Monaco (right) has opened up about her distant relationship with her parents Prince Rainier and Princess Grace 

The royal made the revelations in a new book marking her brother Prince Albert's 60th birthday. Pictured together in 2016

The royal made the revelations in a new book marking her brother Prince Albert's 60th birthday. Pictured together in 2016

Grace Kelly was an acting icon of the 1950s and noted for her natural beauty and in 1956, Kelly became Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III.

She died in September 1982 after driving around a hairpin curve in Monaco and crashing, with her 17-year-old daughter Stephanie in the vehicle.

Princess Stephanie suffered multiple injuries in the crash in 1982 - including broken ribs, three cervical fractures and a shattered collarbone - which occurred when Princess Grace was driving home to the palace with her daughter.

She was survived by her children Stephanie, now 53, Caroline, now 61, and Albert II, 60.

Caroline recalled how she and Albert weren't allowed to eat meals with their parents until they were teenagers 

Caroline recalled how she and Albert weren't allowed to eat meals with their parents until they were teenagers 

Caroline and Albert with their parents in 1961. The royal admitted they were probably closer to their nanny than they were to their parents 

Caroline and Albert with their parents in 1961. The royal admitted they were probably closer to their nanny than they were to their parents 

Despite her distant relationship with her own parents, Caroline enjoys a close bond with her own four children. 

She has three children from her second marriage to Italian industrial heir Stefano Casiraghi, Andrea, 33, Charlotte, 31, and Pierre, 30, and a daughter Princess Alexandra with her current husband.

Prince Ernst August of Hanover, 64, married Princess Caroline of Monaco in 1999, while she was pregnant with their daughter Alexandra, and she became stepmother to his two sons from his first marriage Ernst Jr and Christian.

After 10 years, press reports emerged that the couple were living separately and Prince Ernst went on to strike up a relationship with a beauty queen, 27, from Romania, which has since ended.

He and Princess Caroline remain legally married to each other.

Wedding belles: Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956

Wedding belles: Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956

THE LEGACY OF GRACE KELLY

Admirers recognise her as the embodiment of royalty in any sense – a critically-acclaimed actress and the elegant consort of Monaco, as well as a loyal friend, loving mother, and stunning style icon. 

Ms Kelly was born to a wealthy family in Philadelphia in 1929, and went on to quickly climb the ranks of Hollywood, starring in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and High Society, a musical.

She won the Oscar for Best Actress for her work in the 1954 film The Country Girl, beating out fellow star Judy Garland. She also another nod for her supporting role in 1953’s Mogambo. 

At the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, Ms Kelly met Monaco’s Prince Ranier III. After exchanging letters in a hushed romance, he asked her to marry him days after Christmas that year. 

During what reporters called 'the wedding of the century,’ then 26-year-old Grace Patricia Kelly became Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco in an intricate lace dress designed by MGM costume designer Helen Rose. 

In the years following their wedding she admitted that it was difficult separating Grace Kelly the actress and Princess Grace, the wife of a head of state.

She had three children with the prince – Albert II, Stephanie, and Caroline. 

Princess Grace died on September 14, 1982 as she was driving along a hairpin bend above the Mediterranean principality with her daughter, Princess Stephanie, though the circumstances of that day are still cause for speculation, even three decades after her death.

Initial reports said that she suffered a stroke, though there is still speculation of how the Rover P6 she was driving plunged 45 feet down.

There are rumours that Princess Stephanie was quarrelling with her mother, and that she was even driving the car.

It was the same hairpin curve that she zoomed around in the 1955 film To Catch A Thief. In the film, Ms Kelly gushed: ‘Have you ever seen any place in the world more wonderful?’

Guillaume Rose, Monaco’s head of tourism, told the AFP news agency that the classic movie is ‘the best advertisement we ever had.’ 

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