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On this Page 19
WE^^^^^MjMiE OF
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Drince Charles of the British Com
monwec th! Prihce Henri of
Luxemb jrg! Henri Giscard
Estaing, son of the President of
ince! On s :h eligible young swains
5 the wis il dreams of a doting
)ther born - especially if she is
.ncess Gra< 3 of Monaco and her
lLjghter Ca :>line is the prettiest
incess in all urope.
Caroline, a' er all, had supped with
'"ceCharles it Monte Carlo's Hotel de
lns- And sh had played childhood
lmes with Pr, ce Henri. So who could
Jm_e Her Serene Highness if she
ucipated - \ 3n the time came - a
' le' 0r at i ast an aristocratic,
n-in-iaw?
And who co il blame her for being
When the impetuous
princess fell in love
with the dashing French
playboy, the curtain
rose on a romantic
comedy-drama to rival
any movie her mother
had ever acted in
sharply disappointed, not to say
chagrined, if the time came all too soon
and the impetuous Caroline, against
everybody's dearest expectations, fell
head over heals in love with one who was
- simply - a commoner?
Worse- yet, Philippe Junot, who
became Caroline's husband a little more
than a year ago, was a commoner nearly
twice her age with an uncertain family
history, only vague and amorphous
business connections and an in-
ternational reputation as a ladies' man.
The ail-American former Grace Kelly
(herself the daughter of an Irish brick-
layer who became rich in the construc-
tion business) has always been in-
fatuated with European aristocracy
and royalty. But - in a classic acting
out of the conventional mother-and
daughter clash - Caroline seems drawn
irresistibly elsewhere. She likes to travel
with the so-called jet set. She has a kind
of unroyal raffishness, a wild and fun
loving nature, that leads her to enjoy
CONTINUED PAGE 20

THE CURIOUS
MARRIAGE OF

FROM PAGE 19

indulging in the very kinds of escapades
that will most embarrass her parents.

"Caroline has always yearned for a
certain independence. She wanted to
move out from her mother's shadow.
Now that she's a woman, she can relax
and be happy. She even looks prettier, in
my opinion," a close friend said after the
Junot nuptials.

But long before Caroline married the
all-too-handsome and all-too-dashing
Philippe, she was puffing small cigars
incessantly, against her mother's strict
instruction not to smoke. She was
wearing extremely low-cut dresses when
out in high society. And she was
photographed (with a telephoto lens)
bare to the waist beside Junot while she
and Philippe were still only dating each

other.

Poor Princess Grace. She kept a stiff
upper lip through her daughter's friend-
ships with the likes of Julien Clerc, a
young, popular singer, and Philippe
Laville, a singer who was not so young
and not very popular.

Long, long ago, when she reigned in
Hollywood rather than in Monaco, Grace
Kelly had her unroyal friendships too,
Gary Cooper and William Holden among

them. But when it came down to the
serious business of marriage, it was the
noble Prince Rainier, ruler of the House
of Grimaldi, Europe's oldest reigning
dynasty, whom Grace chose.

Her more daring daughter, however,
would hardly be content to sit upon a
throne, "doing the soul-of-decorum
number," as a princess-watcher said. If
Caroline takes after anyone, it isn't
Princess Grace at all but Princess
Charlotte, Caroline's grandmother, who
ran off with an Italian doctor and
scandalized Europe. Charlotte too
apparently found the nobility too vapid

for her taste.

Philippe Junot is anything but vapid.
He is European and worldly, very likely
amused by American provincialism and
bored by American notions of "respect-
ability." He numbers among his friends
Regine and Jean Castel, owners of the
chicest nightclubs in Paris, and in New
York (by their own account), Peppo
Vanini, who runs the flamboyant disco,
Xenon, and Steve Rubell, owner of the
rival disco, Studio 54.

Philippe himself has already shown a
talent, much like his wife's, for the sort of
escapades that will publicly embarrass
his Monegasque in-laws. Last March,

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ABOVE: A regal game of tennis on the
courts of the Monte Carlo Country Club.

the still-new husband, barely returned
from his honeymoon in Tahiti, cast off
his marital straitjacket with a vengeance
(at least by old-fashioned Australian
standards). During a visit to New York,
on his way back home from a Canadian
business trip, Philippe escorted Agnetta
von Furstenberg (one of Britain's very
social Guinnesses) to dinner and disco
dancing. The events of that late, late
evening narrowly skirted catastrophe.

^ A punch was

thrown. A drink
was thrown. It

could have been

a terrible fight §

"Of course, Philippe always moves
around with a pack of socialites," said a
young jet-setter who was present at the
disco on the night in question. "That's
what they all do. You never know exactly
who's with who. lt's very deliberate. But
it was clear to everyone there that night
that Philippe was Agnetta's date for the
evening."

lt was, perhaps, somewhat less clear
to Junot. After dancing with Agnetta for
a while, he spotted Rachel Ward, a
young British model, and, as it was
reported in a New York newspaper,
"moved in" on her. But Rachel had
come with David Kennedy, then her
constant escort. The 23-year-old son of
Ethel and the late Senator Robert
Kennedy objected to Junot's presumed

overtures to his date.

"A punch was thrown. A drink was
thrown. David got hot-headed. He was

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definitely the aggressor, an eyewitne
recalled. "He might ha thought!
Philippe was just tryir i to pick

Rachel, although they had actui
known each other in L irope. im
event, the proprietors s epped in i
and broke up what cou í have tom
into a terrible fight. Philip e is ajudos
karate expert. He said terwards.1

lucky someone came be ^een us

If much of the world fi- Issued

merely amusing, the ale )f and eleg
Princess Grace and er quiet.'
trospective husband, rince Rain
(although, before his narriage ti
subject of romantic goss: himself)ß

find it alarming.

"Philippe is irredeem bly Pt*"
an acquaintance said of the incident
Xenon, "lt doesn't rr san that

marriage is breaking up - notyet.Bu
has no idea of the respot sibilus

Under the circumstances, herpa'e
may already rue the day that'
obvious reluctance but regal 9raC

they gave their daughter's marriage ^
blessing. But when it became clea

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jaroline's ieart was set on Junot,

fincess Gt ace set her chin, smiled
fcliantly ar made one of her pretty

leeches.

I "The wer ing is on," she said, "lt will

>e held in i maco at the end of June,
le think 's very charming and
Itelligent."

He is. Or at much at least everyone

[ho knows m agrees enthusiastically.
£ charmer ." "Really very warm . . ."
[he kind guy who puts his arm
lound you, members your name and
pys 'How a you?' even though he's
fly met you nee before . . ." insiders'
pmments ru

I But most a o agree that "he has not
djusted to 1 3 fact that he married a

incess," as friend remarked recently,
doubt that ie ever will. He's always
^ioyed hims«- socially, and he's going

'continue to do so.

Jun°t, hov er, may have adjusted
'ster than his riend thought possible.

guess yo e noticed that Philippe
ls not appe? t around here again -

anywhere e for that matter -

LEFT: Presiding over a meeting for

the International Year of the Child.

without Caroline," a Xenon regular
pointed out. "The palace had quite a
good deal to say about the Kennedy
incident. And of course Philippe needs
the palace. Almost no one is quite sure
about his income - what it is and where

it comes from. But almost everyone is
sure that it's not big enough to sustain
his tastes and his lifestyle. So he's made
no revolt against the pressure that the
palace has exercised."

^They will make

sure Philippe
is kept out of

temptation's way
for a while now§

On the contrary. Lately, Philippe
seems to have become the very model of
husbandly devotion. He has settled
down snugly and quietly with Caroline in
a corner of Monaco at the Clos St Pierre,
a villa belonging to Prince Rainier. The
couple still maintains a penthouse flat in
Paris, overlooking the Champs de Mars,
but they don't go there as much any
more. "Philippe is going to be kept out of
temptation's way for a little while," one
acquaintance observed.

Perhaps at least until he becomes a
father. All this sudden rootedness adds
weight to the speculation that Caroline
- despite rumours of a rift in the
relationship - may be pregnant or trying
to become pregnant.

The house of Grimaldi has always
been starved for male heirs - the more
so because Monaco's royal marriages,
as well as its numerous sexual liaisons,

have been, traditionally, "catalogues of
disaster." (Heirs are vital to Monaco.
Under an agreement signed by Prince
Rainier's great-grandfather, Albert,
France recognizes Monaco as an in-
dependent State. But if the throne were
to become vacant because of an ab-
sence of Grimaldis, Monaco would lose
its independence and become a French
protectorate.)

Princess Caroline's grandmother,
Charlotte, was the daughter of a laun-
dress who may (or may not) have been
wed to Prince Louis, then heir to
Monaco's throne. The present Prince
Rainier, Caroline's father, was
Charlotte's only son.

Rainier's own romantic attachment to
the French film star Gisele Pascal was

well known throughout Europe. Until he
gave her up to marry Grace Kelly, Gisele
- divorced and a greengrocer's daugh-

ter - was known as "the uncrowned
queen of Monaco."

And Monte Carlo, its splendour
faded, was magically revived in the
public imagination by Rainier's marriage
to a splendid Grace Kelly of Hollywood
and Philadelphia. Grace herself, grown
somewhat older but even more splendid,
said recently, "I would adore to have a
grandchild, but Caroline is young and I

feel that she should wait."

Then, 13 months into the marriage, in
late July, the irrepressible Madame
Junot turned up at a Dior fashion
show wearing a dress composed, in-
terestingly, of ruffled tiers. The longest

tier covered her stomach. Old hands at
the pregnancy game jumped to the con-
clusion that she and Philippe were
indeed expecting a child - early in the
new year. Others later pointed out that
Caroline's nature is playful enough to
prompt her to wear such a dress, con-
triving to appear pregnant, when she was

not.

If the Junot marriage has indeed
entered the shaky stage, certain friends
of the family say, in the light of a possible
pregnancy, an annulment might no
longer be possible. And since Philippe
and Caroline are Catholic, other friends
feel that divorce - under any cir-
cumstances - would be out of the
question. But this is not necessarily so,
says Princess Caroline's uncle, Jack
Kelly (John B. Kelly Jr), the only brother
of Princess Grace).

"The Kellys are not as strict Cath-
olics as some people think," he said
recently. He is in the throes of divorce,
after having been separated from his
wife for 12 years. Nor is he the only one
of Her Serene Highness's siblings to
terminate a marriage. "My sister Peggy
has been divorced twice," Kelly added.
(Grace has two sisters, Margaret and
Lizanne, both of Philadelphia.)

But so far, and from a distance, Jack

CONTINUED PAGE 23

HE CURIOUS
(ARRIASE OF

DMTAGE 21

Hy discerns no fatal marital discord in
»offing for the young Junots. When
incess Grace visited Philadelphia this
(rimer, she in no way suggested that
r daughte s marriage was in trouble.

She hardly talked about Caroline at
jack Kelly said. He brought up his
ces narr a couple of times, asking,

¡nstanct 'whether Caroline might
¡to do a couple of things to mark

ICEF's 3ar of the Child in
[adelphia '

"We're still a very close family," he
jed. He o ered his avuncular view of
ncess C. oline as "a good-spirited

hull of ! ! and vigour. Her mother's
jen more aserved, almost' shy, corn

red to he

As for hi? ;ew nephew, Philippe, Jack
illy feels entirely positive about him as
personali He's a pretty nice guy. A
fy good t la. I like him a lot."

Few Americans seem to know
Nippe much better than Jack Kelly

¡oes_ ar ose who do will not talk
lout him for the record. In the
Inegasque vocabulary of etiquette,
Into speak casually of Grimaldis is

jfntamount to personal betrayal.

IA British journalist who has lived in
france for r any years and who covered
he wedding in Monaco, was not so
eticent. "They're snobs who look down
jeir noses at the Press, then wonder
»hy they receive so much hostility from
lie newspapers of the world," he said of
le House o' the Grimaldi.

["Let's face it. These people have

recked and ruined the principality of
onaco. Ti . ve filled in the land and
lilt high-rises out to the edge of the
B. They've turned Monaco into a tax
tven for the rich and the crooked. But
ey would like to represent themselves
. 9reat, gracious and benevolent
snefactors ct humanity."

Be that as it may, an outsider can
ive little not n of how stringently the
ht circle Monaco high society
>eys the law )f silence concerning the
yal family, ohn Diter, the Prince's
irsonal sec rary, suggested that to
quire into such matters as Philippe
lnot's early y ars and his professional
Aground ,ay be construed as

pln9 into th' private life of a private

irson.

"^''difficult to get to know because
5 doesn't t k about himself very
ucn." Rainie commented to the New

rK ''Times about his daughter's
lure husband a short time before the

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The picturesque streets of Monaco are
ideal for taking a hand-in-hand stroll.

6 Fm very upset by the pictures painted

of Caroline. They're just not true§

wedding. "I think he works with banks,"
said Princess Grace.

In such an atmosphere, naturally,

rumours abound, lt was whispered that
Junot had lived off his divorced and
remarried mother, Madame Lydia
Chassin; that Philippe himself was
divorced and the father of a child
residing in California; that his present
income - such as it is - derived from
links with a Saudi Arabian arms billion-
aire, Adnan Khashoggi, who would
ultimately use him as a front man to buy
up Monaco, lock, stock and barrel.

Junot's enterprising father stepped
with both feet into this vacuum of any
hard, verifiable information about
Philippe. The elder Junot, Michel, once
head of Westinghouse Electric in Paris,
now a deputy in the office of Paris
mayor, Jacques Chirac, hastily invented
a "suitable" lineage for his son. But
monsieur Le Ray, due d'Abrantes,
began a celebrated court case (which he
won) to prove that the Junots had
wrongfully usurped his titles, lt was
shown that Philippe's family had not

descended from Napoleon's General
Andoche Junot, due d'Abrantes; that
Michel had bought at auction such
heirlooms as the duke's family paintings,
letters and documents.

lt has a kind of poetic inevitability that
someone like Philippe Junot has married
Princess Caroline and now lives in
Monaco, where more international
wheeler-dealers congregate per square
centimetre of territory than any other
place in the world.

Just before the wedding, John
Vinocur, Bonn bureau chief of the New
York "Times," visited the elusive royal
family of Monaco. He found "bored
lines" around Caroline's pretty mouth
and an "assertive" tone that, he said,
fitted in with reports about "the strong
willed Princess." As for her then
husband-to-be, Vinocur wrote, "Mr
Junot, with his consultant's office in his
living room, his hard good looks, his
vague business connections, could not
be a more exquisite fit. He belongs in
Monte Carlo. He will prosper. He has

understood."

Perhaps he does belong in Monte
Carlo. And perhaps, somewhere in the
depths of their pragmatic souls, Princess
Grace and Prince Rainier have also
understood. Perhaps that is why they
keep their serene silence with such
determination.

Meanwhile, Princess Grace still puts
the best face she can on things. After 23
years in Monaco, she seems more than
ever the picture of Philadelphia Main
Line propriety. Recently, smiling her

cool, regal, chin-up smile on an
American television show, she again
avoided facing - specifically - the
troublesome subject of her son-in-law.

"I'm proud of Caroline and I'm very
upset by the pictures painted of her.
They're just not true," she told the
interviewer.

"lt's been very tough on my children
having to live their lives in the constant
glare of world publicity. But it's been
roughest of all on Caroline, particularly
just before and after her wedding. She's
been really victimized by it all. The Press
has been very tough. She's overcome
it all, though, and faces everything
admirably.

The important thing, said one
long-time resident, is that "no scandals
are permitted in Monaco . . . Don't make
trouble. Smile. This is Monaco."

Like many of the highest laws that
govern the tiny but tumultuous principal-
ity, this one is unwritten, too. Whether it
is also unbreakable, only time will tell.CZ]

- NATALIE GITTELSON

I Copyright (C) 1979, McCall Publishing Company I

$