Engaged to be married to the rich but dull George (played by John Lund), Lord wears a scene-stealing ring throughout the film, its central stone elegantly flanked by a pair of tapered baguettes. And this was no movie prop. It turned out to be the real deal, as presented to Kelly by Prince Rainier himself. “We have pictures of them peering in at the windows of the Cartier store on the Rue de la Paix [in Paris],” says Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s director of image, heritage, and style. “I don’t know if they were already married or engaged, but perhaps they were choosing this ring.” He adds that the jeweler’s archive records the ring’s transfer from Paris to its store in Monaco.
However it made its way onto Kelly’s ring finger, the diamond ended up with a starring role on the big screen. In one scene, Bing Crosby, who plays Tracy’s ex-husband in the movie, jokes about its size. In another, Kelly’s character polishes the massive rock on a seat cushion, then lies back to admire it.
Straight after filming wrapped in Los Angeles, Kelly traveled to Monaco for her royal wedding. On April 18, 1956, she and Prince Rainier wed in a civil ceremony at the palace before an opulent religious ceremony the following day at Monaco’s Saint Nicholas Cathedral. MGM, which had been Kelly’s studio up until the point she was married, gifted her her wedding dress, designed by Oscar-winning costumer designer Helen Rose (she had also designed Elizabeth Taylor’s first wedding dress in 1950). The studio also made a film of the Monaco wedding, which was attended by real as well as Hollywood royalty, and watched by more than 30 million people around the world.
