My Days with Princess Grace of Monaco by Joan Dale

Joan Dale and her successful diplomat husband Martin became good friends with Princess Grace and her family, and she can't praise the beautiful American royal highly enough. According to Dale, Princess Grace was a lovely, warm, hard-working woman who loved her family and sometimes longed to resume her career as an actress.  Dale tells lots of anecdotes about times spent with the royal family and meeting other important people, such as other Monaco royals and Onassis and Maria Callis  She describes spectacular events and galas.

The most interesting parts of the book concern Prince Rainier's fights with de Gaulle and Onassis over taxation and the economic growth of Monaco.  Dale's husband was in charge of the economic development of Monaco so he was directly involved in these battles.  There was also an argument with Prince Rainier's sister Antoinette over succession.

I enjoyed this book up to a point, but I grew a bit tired of the descriptions of all the events and galas.  This is probably because I live in a pretty boring place and it made me envious! It is worth buying just for the pictures, however!