Grace Kelly, born in Philadelphia and known for her elegance, left Hollywood at 26 to marry Prince Rainier III and become Princess of Monaco.
She tragically died in a car crash five years before the 1987 Cannes Film Festival—the same fate Princess Diana would face ten years later.
Barely a mention
At Cannes that night, few in the media noticed Diana’s pale blue gown was a quiet tribute to Grace Kelly’s timeless elegance.
Back in 1987, newspapers barely mentioned it. But today, the connection is clear.
Diana’s dress, with its icy blue color and flowing style, echoed the iconic gown Grace wore in Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief, filmed along the French Riviera.
Grace Kelly wore a light blue gown designed by Edith Head in the 1955 film To Catch a Thief. Diana and her designer Catherine Walker took inspiration from Grace’s iconic screen presence — even choosing the same shade of blue that Hitchcock selected to convey cool, untouchable beauty.
Diana and Grace shared a special, though brief, connection. In 1981, after Diana’s engagement, she met Grace at a charity gala. Overwhelmed and nervous, the 19-year-old broke down in tears in the ladies’ room. Grace, then 51, comforted her and gave advice only someone familiar with royal life could offer. This moment deeply impacted Diana.
Cannes held special meaning for Princess Grace—it was where she met Prince Rainier in 1955. Thirty-two years later, Diana quietly honored Grace by wearing a flowing dress that caught the breeze during a film screening, as Newsweek noted.
Diana wore the same gown again at the Miss Saigon premiere two years later. In 1997, months before her death, she auctioned it at Christie’s charity event, selling it for $70,700. The dress reappeared in a 2013 auction, raising over $132,000 for children’s charity.
In 2017, it was displayed at Kensington Palace, marking 20 years since Diana’s passing. The dress remains a symbol of her style, grief, and tribute to Grace, capturing a moment beyond the photographers’ lens on that windy Cannes night.
