Grace learned early on that Rainier wasn't the easiest person to live with. She came from a world in which she usually got her way; she had been a pampered Hollywood star, after all.

However, at the Palace, she found herself playing the most subservient role of her life, spouse to a man who was not only ruler of a principality, but also of a palace, his home -- much like her father had been in his house. In his view, he was never wrong, again like Jack Kelly. If a dinner party went on too long, he would sometimes fall asleep at the table.

Once, the Prince and Princess were entertaining the elderly Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, often referred to as Queen Ena, who was also Prince Albert's godmother. As the Queen -- who was the mother of the Spanish pretender Don Juan -- told a long story about how she was almost assassinated on her wedding day in Madrid in 1906, Princess Grace tried to act captivated. She hoped to keep the Queen's eyes on her because, seated right next to the Queen was Rainier, sound asleep. Later, when Grace challenged Rainier about it, he defended himself by saying that he and Grace had heard Ena's "big story" a dozen times, and "I can sleep anywhere I wish, because it's my Palace."

"He would blow up. Oh boy, would he ever!" said Grace's sister Lizanne good-naturedly. "Now that was something to see."