The Tragic Story Behind Princess Grace's Death in a Car Accident

Tragedy struck on Sept. 13, 1982, when Princess Grace of Monaco was behind the wheel in a tragic car accident.

The American Oscar winner, who was known as Grace Kelly before she became a princess after marrying Prince Rainier of Monaco, suffered a stroke driving home to Monaco with her then 17-year-old daughter Princess Stephanie. Losing control of the car, she drove off a steep mountain, plummeting 100 feet down a ravine. She tragically died from a brain hemorrhage the next day on Sept. 14 at age 52.

Stephanie, who survived after suffering a concussion and a fractured vertebra, spoke about the effect of her mother's death in a 2015 interview with the French publication Point de Vue.

"After I got over my anger, got past the sense of injustice that was inside me, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I said, 'Wait! Logically, you should have died, too,'" she said. "If I was kept alive, it was for a reason. You have a place in this world. You have to find it."

Born Grace Patricia Kelly in Philadelphia on Nov. 12, 1929, Kelly starred in her first film, Fourteen Hours, at age 22. Best known for her roles in the Alfred Hitchcock classics Dial M for Murder and Rear Window, Kelly won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Country Girl, the year before her fairy-tale wedding to Rainier in 1956. The pair had first met on May 6, 1955, when Kelly was in Europe to attend the Cannes Film Festival.

Revered for her chic, understated sense of style, Grace became Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco and gave up her acting career. She went on to have three children with Prince Rainier: Caroline, Albert and Stephanie.

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Prince Albert, the reigning head of Monaco, has also spoken of healing after the death of his mother.

"It always takes a while; you recover thanks to your other family members and to your friends and to people who are dear to you who can provide comfort. It also takes a few years to really come to terms with it," the royal dad said in a 2017 interview.

As for his father, who died in 2005, Albert says he never recovered from the tragic death of his iconic wife. "He was deeply affected, and he wasn't quite the same man as he was before the accident."

On the day of her funeral, she was mourned by Nancy Reagan, Princess Diana and Cary Grant, whom costarred with Kelly in Hitchcock's 1956 film To Catch a Thief, at the Monaco Cathedral during a 75-minute service watched by approximately 100 million people.