‘Princess Grace is no longer here’

Camille Gottlieb has grown accustomed to hearing about her striking resemblance to her late grandmother, Princess Grace of Monaco. While the 28-year-old considers the comparison a major compliment, she has made it clear that there is a line she would rather people not cross.

During a recent interview with TV Monaco, Princess Stéphanie’s youngest daughter opened up about the comparisons that have followed her over the years and explained why resembling Grace Kelly is very different from being expected to behave like her.

“It’s something that flatters me enormously, because she was voted the most beautiful woman in the world,” Camille said of the comparisons, according to French reports covering the interview.

“For me, it’s an honor to resemble her and even to have some features in common with her,” she added.

© Pascal Le Segretain

The comparisons are hardly surprising. Grace, who was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars before marrying Prince Rainier III in 1956, was Camille’s maternal grandmother. Princess Stéphanie was the youngest of Grace and Rainier’s three children.

But Camille explained that she sees an important distinction between people noticing their physical resemblance and using her grandmother as a standard against which to judge her own decisions.

© Sunset Boulevard

“There’s a difference between saying that one person resembles another person — there’s a chance that I resemble her because she is my grandmother after all — and saying, ‘Princess Grace Kelly wouldn’t have done that…'” Camille said.

It was there that the Monegasque royal relative drew a clear distinction between herself and the grandmother she never had the opportunity to know.

© PLS Monaco Pool

“Princess Grace is no longer here, she lived in another era, and I am Camille,” she said. Grace died in September 1982 at the age of 52, more than a decade before Camille was born in July 1998.

Camille said similar comparisons are also made between her and her mother, Princess Stéphanie. “It also comes up often with my mother… everyone is different, we are not one and the same person,” she said.

© Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock, Grosby Group

Her remarks don’t mean Camille is uncomfortable with her connection to her famous grandmother. Instead, her comments distinguish between celebrating their family resemblance and expecting two women from different generations to make the same choices.

For Camille, at least when it comes to their physical resemblance, being compared to one of Hollywood’s most enduring icons remains an honor. As she made clear during the interview, however, she is also happy being recognized simply as Camille.

© Pascal Le Segretain