Princess Grace of Monaco

Princess Grace of Monaco0:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a download from the Desert Island Disc's archive. This edition may be slightly different from what was actually broadcast, but it is the only version we have. It comes from the British Library's radio collection.

Princess Grace of Monaco0:14

The recording didn't contain the guests' eight music choices, so we've rebuilt the original show by using discs from the B B C Gramophone library. For Wright's reasons we've had to shorten the music.

Princess Grace of Monaco0:25

Full details can be found on the Castaways page on the Desert Island Discs website.

Princess Grace of Monaco0:30

The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen eighty one.

Princess Grace of Monaco0:33

And the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Speaker 40:49

Uh

Presenter0:52

This week, our castaway is Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco.

Presenter0:57

How well could you adjust yourself to loneliness continued loneliness?

Princess Grace of Monaco1:02

I think it would be very difficult.

Princess Grace of Monaco1:04

I love being alone in the midst of the crowd, but

Princess Grace of Monaco1:08

I don't know.

Princess Grace of Monaco1:09

complete solitude would um

Princess Grace of Monaco1:12

You know that I could cope for very long. I doubt it.

Presenter1:15

Do you think that desert island situation would start up any kind of irrational fear or phobia?

Princess Grace of Monaco1:22

Well, I don't know. I'm sure it would. I have phobias already, so I'm sure

Presenter1:26

I'm sure I could I'd collect

Princess Grace of Monaco1:28

I collect

Presenter1:28

Act a few more.

Presenter1:30

How important in your life is music?

Princess Grace of Monaco1:33

Oh, well I love music and uh of course we're very spoiled in Monaco with a wonderful orchestra and we we have lots of music.

Presenter1:41

Were you taught music as a child?

Princess Grace of Monaco1:43

Uh, yes, I was. I studied piano.

Princess Grace of Monaco1:46

and um of course abandoned it before I was able to be my mother's great hope.

Presenter1:47

Yeah.

Princess Grace of Monaco1:51

You don't play an

Presenter1:51

You don't play anymore?

Princess Grace of Monaco1:52

I don't know.

Presenter1:53

Not even for your own pleasure.

Princess Grace of Monaco1:55

No no, I wish I I wish I had continued, but alas, like so many, I abandoned.

Presenter2:01

Do you sing?

Princess Grace of Monaco2:02

Not any more. I I used to

Presenter2:06

But you don't anymore. No.

Princess Grace of Monaco2:07

Uh

Presenter2:07

What

Princess Grace of Monaco2:07

Oh, for myself. When I drive, if I'm alone driving in a car, I sing.

Presenter2:12

Now eight records to last for we don't know how long on that island. What's your first record?

Princess Grace of Monaco2:19

Well my first record is a Fredestea.

Presenter2:22

Why'd you choose Brettus?

Princess Grace of Monaco2:23

Um well, I love all of his music. I loved his dancing, I I love his singing. Uh it's very difficult to to make a selection because um

Princess Grace of Monaco2:32

There so many I like, but perhaps this one is my favorite.

Presenter2:36

And what it calls.

Princess Grace of Monaco2:37

You're easy to dance with.

Presenter2:44

I could

Presenter2:46

Dance nightly just holding you tightly, my sweet

Presenter2:55

Uh

Speaker 32:55

Cool.

Presenter2:56

Keep running Right on because you're so light on your feet.

Presenter3:04

You're easy to dance with

Presenter3:10

Fred Estaff

Presenter3:11

Now, Your Highness, you were born in Philadelphia. The Kellys obviously come from Ireland. How far back did your forebears set sail?

Princess Grace of Monaco3:20

Uh it was my grandfather, my father's father, who uh came from County Mayo to uh Vermont.

Princess Grace of Monaco3:26

And uh the first children were born there and then they moved to Philadelphia. My father was born in Philadelphia.

Presenter3:32

Yes. Now your father was a building worker who became rather good at it. He became a very successful contractor.

Princess Grace of Monaco3:38

Yes, well one of his older brothers was also in the uh construction business, and when my father came back from the uh from the army, he was in France in nineteen eighteen another brother gave him a gift of money to start his own business.

Presenter3:53

And he was a a very good sportsman, too.

Princess Grace of Monaco3:55

Yes, he was.

Presenter3:56

An oarsman, of Olympic standard.

Princess Grace of Monaco3:58

Yes, indeed. He won the Olympics uh the single skulls in nineteen twenty and also the doubles with a cousin of his from Philadelphia.

Presenter4:08

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

Princess Grace of Monaco4:10

I have two sisters and a brother.

Presenter4:12

All brought up to be good at sport.

Princess Grace of Monaco4:14

Yes, they were all very good. I was sort of the non athletic member of the family, but I was exposed to many sports.

Presenter4:21

Yeah.

Presenter4:22

Well, your father did well in the building trade, but you took after a couple of uncles who were doing rather well in the theatre.

Princess Grace of Monaco4:29

Yes, my uh uncle George was uh a dramatist and Walter had great success as a monologuist. He was um known as the Virginia Judge and uh toured all of the English speaking world with his uh his stories and he was a great storyteller.

Presenter4:40

Yeah.

Presenter4:46

And your Uncle George, the the playwright who won a Pulitzer Prize, he had begun in in Verdeville, too.

Princess Grace of Monaco4:53

Yes, he did. He uh he wrote and acted in his own plays and then um continued only writing.

Presenter5:01

As a child were you taken to the theatre much?

Princess Grace of Monaco5:03

I was, and um also to the ballet. I worked occasionally with an amateur group in Philadelphia. When they needed a a child to to do something, I uh lived in there.

Presenter5:16

And in school plays, I suppose.

Princess Grace of Monaco5:17

And in school plays, of course.

Presenter5:18

When did you decide that you wanted acting to be your career?

Princess Grace of Monaco5:23

Well, I suppose when it came time to finish high school and to make a decision of where I was to study, at that time I was very interested in modern dancing. I had studied ballet when I was a youngster and then at age fifteen and sixteen I did a lot of modern dance, which I liked very much, and wanted to continue and I applied for a college that specialized particularly in dance and drama, where I could specialize immediately without going through the customary two years of liberal arts of general courses. But it was just after the war and priority was given to all of the GIs coming home. They were able to have scholarships into all the colleges. And so the girls were sort of pushed aside and I was put on a waiting list and I'm still waiting.

Speaker 46:13

Ha ha ha ha.

Princess Grace of Monaco6:14

So then I decided I was able to get into the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York and I I started there.

Presenter6:18

Yeah.

Presenter6:20

You were for a brief while the schoolteacher, just for a few months.

Princess Grace of Monaco6:23

Uh well, yes, when I was waiting to go to school in New York, my school in Philadelphia asked me to come and help with the the youngsters, which I enjoyed, it was lovely.

Presenter6:31

Which I

Presenter6:33

And then off you went to drama school, and at this point we break off your second record. What is it?

Princess Grace of Monaco6:39

Well, it's Frank Sinatra You Make Me Feel So Young.

Presenter6:42

One of his best.

Princess Grace of Monaco6:43

I think so.

Presenter6:44

Uh

Presenter6:45

You make me feel so young.

Presenter6:49

You make me feel like strings sprung

Presenter6:52

Every time I see you, Grim.

Presenter6:55

I'm such a happy

Presenter6:58

An individual the moment that you speak

Presenter7:03

I wanna run away high and see. I wanna go and bounce the moon, just like Victor M.

Presenter7:12

One of Frank Sinatra's songs for swinging lovers, You Make Me Feel So Young.

Presenter7:17

So you left drama school. What was your very first job?

Princess Grace of Monaco7:22

My first job was in summer stock at the New Hope Playhouse.

Presenter7:26

Where's that?

Princess Grace of Monaco7:27

That is in Pennsylvania.

Presenter7:28

And you did bits of modelling and television commercials and all that sort of

Princess Grace of Monaco7:32

Well, I yes, I did some photographic modelling when I was going to school.

Presenter7:37

And then you played in one of Uncle George's plays.

Princess Grace of Monaco7:41

Well, I did uh I did a couple of his in school and also in Summerstark, yes.

Presenter7:45

Yeah, so a Bucks County playhouse.

Princess Grace of Monaco7:47

That's right.

Presenter7:48

And then, quite quickly, on to Broadway.

Princess Grace of Monaco7:51

Well, I was very fortunate that Raymond Massey and Mady Christians were very tall, because it was my problem as a young Ingenieux that I was quite tall.

Speaker 48:01

Yes.

Princess Grace of Monaco8:01

And so I lost many parts because of that. But happily, uh playing their daughter, it was uh believable and uh I had my first job.

Presenter8:11

That was in Strindberg's The Father.

Princess Grace of Monaco8:11

And that was

Princess Grace of Monaco8:12

That's right, yes.

Presenter8:14

A lot of television drama.

Princess Grace of Monaco8:17

Yes, I got into television in the days when it was live and, uh, a little frantic and hectic, but Great fun.

Presenter8:24

And you played your first movie part in New York.

Princess Grace of Monaco8:26

Yes. It was a a picture called Fourteen Hours. It was taken from a true story of a boy on the ledge of the Gotham Hotel who was there for fourteen hours before he jumped and all of the attempts to save his life and his story was revealed during these fourteen hours.

Presenter8:37

And

Presenter8:43

And then what? What was the next important

Princess Grace of Monaco8:45

Uh well, then I was

Presenter8:45

Uh

Princess Grace of Monaco8:47

In New York doing television and also Summer Stark.

Princess Grace of Monaco8:52

I was in Denver for a season of stock and then I went to California for high noon.

Presenter8:57

High Noon with Gary Cooper, a great Western. But as in most Westerns, there wasn't much of a leading woman's part. It was all a sort of male-dominated story.

Princess Grace of Monaco9:06

Male dominated.

Presenter9:10

But nevertheless it was a a prestige movie which really got you launched.

Princess Grace of Monaco9:14

Well, I was very happy to be in it, yes.

Presenter9:17

What's your third record?

Princess Grace of Monaco9:19

My third record is Don McLean, it's called On the Amazon.

Presenter9:25

Why do you choose that?

Princess Grace of Monaco9:26

Well, because it appeals to my sense of humour.

Princess Grace of Monaco9:30

And I find it delightful and great fun.

Speaker 39:43

The prophylactics prowl on the Amazon The hypodermics howl on the Amazon You'll hear a scarab scowl and stink

Speaker 39:58

Zodiac sounds

Presenter10:01

Don McLean singing an early Vivian Ellis number on the Amazon.

Presenter10:07

Now, your screen career was comparatively brief, but you worked with some very good directors, John Ford, for example.

Princess Grace of Monaco10:14

Yes, I was very fortunate in working with wonderful people, really.

Presenter10:18

McGambo, the the Ford picture, was there a better leading woman's role in that?

Princess Grace of Monaco10:23

Oh, well certainly I played the second lead. Eva Gardner played the lead with Clark Gable.

Presenter10:29

He must have been so knowledgeable. What was he a good man to work with? A helpful man?

Princess Grace of Monaco10:33

Er, John Ford.

Presenter10:34

I'm well, I was talking about Clark Abel. But the same goes for both of them.

Princess Grace of Monaco10:35

I'm the warlock.

Princess Grace of Monaco10:36

A car cable.

Princess Grace of Monaco10:39

Well, they were great professionals and they were very kind to me and very helpful because I was very new at the job.

Presenter10:46

Mm.

Princess Grace of Monaco10:47

And it was a great experience working with both of them.

Presenter10:50

And then you did a couple straight off for Alfred Hitchcock.

Princess Grace of Monaco10:53

Yes.

Presenter10:54

Dial M for murder, and rear window. Now he was reputed to have had a poor opinion of actors. They were expendable. Did you find any evidence of that?

Princess Grace of Monaco11:05

Well, it's difficult to comment. Actually working with Hitchcock was a was a delight in every way. He was a wonderful man, a very talented one, and

Presenter11:09

Ah

Princess Grace of Monaco11:17

With a great sense of humour, with tremendous patience, I only knew kindness and understanding from him.

Presenter11:25

Then, for your role in The Country Girl, from the play by Clifford Odette, you were given an Academy Award.

Presenter11:31

That was a rather unusual Bing Crosby role, wasn't it? It was one of his few straight-hours.

Princess Grace of Monaco11:36

Yes, it it was uh quite a departure for Bing to play a a dramatic role, which he did extremely well.

Presenter11:43

And a very good story, of course.

Princess Grace of Monaco11:45

Yes, it's a wonderful play.

Presenter11:47

Then back to Hitchcock for to catch a thief.

Princess Grace of Monaco11:50

Yes.

Presenter11:52

And back to records for number four.

Princess Grace of Monaco11:54

Well, the fourth one is, I think, the only Bersuse that Chopin ever wrote, and it's uh it's very beautiful and lovely, and it's, of course, played to perfection by Arthur Rubinstein.

Presenter12:57

Chopin's Berses in D-flat played by Arthur Rubenstein.

Presenter13:02

For to catch a thief with Cairie Grant, there was a lot of location shooting on the French Riviera. Was that your first visit?

Princess Grace of Monaco13:09

It was the first time I I I saw the Mediterranean and was on the Riviera, yes.

Presenter13:13

Yes. Was it on that occasion that you first met your future husband, Prince Reynolds?

Princess Grace of Monaco13:18

Uh no, it wasn't. Actually, I met uh my husband the following year when I went uh to Cannes for the festival.

Presenter13:26

And then he went to the United States to see you. But before there could be wedding bells you had one more film to do.

Princess Grace of Monaco13:33

Actually I did two uh between the time that we met and uh we w were married.

Presenter13:34

But two.

Presenter13:38

Well, the one I was going to talk about was High Society, one of the best musicals ever made, I think.

Princess Grace of Monaco13:44

Well, it was a fun film to do. We all enjoyed it and uh

Princess Grace of Monaco13:48

You know, it just seemed to work from from the very beginning.

Presenter13:51

That lovely cold porter score.

Princess Grace of Monaco13:53

It's delightful.

Presenter13:54

and you with Bing Crosby in a very much lighter mood and and Sinatra.

Presenter13:59

And the other film?

Princess Grace of Monaco14:01

The other film was The Swan, which I did just before High Society.

Presenter14:04

Yes, with Alec Guinness, wasn't it? And then off to a very different life to become a member of the Grimaldi family. How many centuries is it that the family has ruled Monaco?

Princess Grace of Monaco14:14

Since the thirteenth century.

Presenter14:16

There have been gaps, of course. History books tell us that at various times Monaco has been occupied by Italy, France, Germany, Spain, and the Kingdom of Sardinia, but it still kept its independence.

Princess Grace of Monaco14:28

Yes, and uh well, the only time that the family was away was just after the French Revolution. For twenty years the uh the palace was ransacked and used as hospital, old people's home, and then the prince came back and uh restored the palace to the family.

Presenter14:45

And of course the Monaco people are seagoing people, corsairs and peaceful traders.

Princess Grace of Monaco14:50

Well, until a hundred years ago the only access to Monaco was by sea.

Presenter14:55

Yes.

Princess Grace of Monaco14:55

Oh, one could come from the old Roman road over the mountains and then down to uh to Monaco. But the uh railroad came in about eighteen sixty three and of course that changed the principality entirely.

Presenter15:10

Well more about Monaco in a minute, let's have another record.

Princess Grace of Monaco15:14

Well for the next record I'd like something of Bach and I've chosen a sonata for cello and piano.

Princess Grace of Monaco15:22

The number one in G major.

Presenter16:20

The first movement of Bach's first sonata for cello and piano, Glenn Gould, with Leonard Rose.

Presenter16:27

Now, your highness, you live in that beautiful palace up on the rock. That's a very ancient building.

Princess Grace of Monaco16:33

Well, it was uh constructed first as a fortress and um made a little more livable through the years. But uh

Presenter16:40

But

Princess Grace of Monaco16:41

It was never built originally as a dwelling.

Presenter16:45

Do you have a strong sense of history? Do you visualize the past as you as you walk through the State Department?

Princess Grace of Monaco16:50

Oh, very much so. And of course, as there have been many changes

Princess Grace of Monaco16:54

Through the centuries it's always fascinating to see and to notice and to think of how it was before and what made them change in this particular way.

Presenter17:03

Do you have another less formal residence for weekends and holidays?

Princess Grace of Monaco17:09

Yes, we do. We have um a small farm in the hills behind Monaco.

Presenter17:14

And you will have three children, is that right?

Presenter17:17

Now the area of Monaco is is is what? About

Princess Grace of Monaco17:20

I'm not sure. It's very small.

Presenter17:23

Uh

Princess Grace of Monaco17:23

See Morrows

Presenter17:23

Miles by eight I worked it out looking at a map, but that's not an official figure.

Princess Grace of Monaco17:28

Well, Monaco was larger until a hundred years ago. It was sort of a wedge between Italy and France. And when the towns of Montan and Rochebrun and some of the others elected to become French, Monaco was reduced to its present size.

Presenter17:42

Monica.

Princess Grace of Monaco17:45

and at the time uh Prince Charles, in order to provide employment for the people who lost their lands,

Princess Grace of Monaco17:52

as the occupation was mainly citrus growing and uh

Princess Grace of Monaco17:56

production of olive oil.

Princess Grace of Monaco17:58

He created Monte Carlo as a resort in order to give employment to the Monegasques at that time.

Presenter18:04

And some of the principality, of course, consists of mountains, so all the usable land had to be used very intensively.

Presenter18:11

Which accounts for all those high-rise buildings.

Princess Grace of Monaco18:14

That's right.

Presenter18:15

And even to the extent of of the railway's been put underground now, that that gives a little more space.

Princess Grace of Monaco18:21

Yes, and it was uh quite uh an engineering feat. It wasn't just underground, it was through the mountain.

Presenter18:27

Now, of course, there's a an enormous amount of revenue coming out of each square foot. What are the the main

Presenter18:35

Assets of Monaco

Princess Grace of Monaco18:37

V.

Princess Grace of Monaco18:38

Principal source of income is through tourism, of course. But we have quite a bit of light industry.

Presenter18:41

Of course.

Presenter18:44

Gambling isn't as big as it was because there are other casinos up and down the coast there.

Princess Grace of Monaco18:48

Yes, oh it's uh really a very uh small percentage of the of the income of the principality right now.

Presenter18:55

And postage stamps. So many people collect postage.

Princess Grace of Monaco18:58

Yes, well that's very important and a very big source of income to us.

Presenter19:03

Some of your flower designs have been used on the stem.

Princess Grace of Monaco19:06

Yes, they have.

Presenter19:07

Now there's a fine opera house. You mentioned the orchestra just now. Among your innovations is an international arts festival.

Princess Grace of Monaco19:15

Yes, which incorporates all of the artistic expressions.

Presenter19:18

What's been going on in in recent years? What have been your triumphs?

Princess Grace of Monaco19:23

We have an important um musical programme. Our concerts are in the autumn. We have ballet at Christmas and Easter and also in the summer time. Our opera season begins the end of January and goes through March. We have a series of concerts in the palace courtyard in the summertime with many guest artists and guest conductors. These are very successful. We're able to seat about a thousand people in the courtyard of the palace. And these concerts have been going for about twenty years now. They've been very successful and very pleasant.

Presenter20:00

It must be marvellous to have concerts like that right outside your own house.

Princess Grace of Monaco20:04

Yes, right inside.

Presenter20:05

Yeah

Presenter20:07

Although you've made no more films, you still like to perform. You you've been giving poetry recitals.

Princess Grace of Monaco20:13

Yes, this is something I started a few years ago and it's uh I've enjoyed it very much. It's been very pleasant and uh it's something that I can do without uh being away from Monaco for you know any long period of time.

Presenter20:27

Another record, please.

Princess Grace of Monaco20:29

But this time I would like to choose a selection from a record that I made with Richard Pascoe of one of our poetry programmes called Birds, Beasts and Flowers. And this is a selection from Shakespeare from Venus and Adonis, The Proud Horse.

Presenter20:50

Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, And now his woven girths he breaks asunder The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds, Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven's thunder The iron bit he crusheth'tween his teeth, Controlling what he was controlled with His ears upprick'd, his braided hanging mane Upon his compass'd crest, now stand on end.

Presenter21:18

RICHARD PASCO, reading The Proud Horse from Shakspeare's Venus and Adonis From the disc Birds, Beasts, and Flowers. Now you've always been particularly fond of flowers. As a child, I believe you used to steal them and sell them, is that right?

Princess Grace of Monaco21:33

Yeah.

Princess Grace of Monaco21:36

I mention it in in my book because it was something that we did for my mother's charity.

Presenter21:42

Ha ha ha ha.

Princess Grace of Monaco21:43

And uh we were chastised for having helped ourselves to the neighbours' gardens and this career was stopped very much in the bud.

Presenter21:52

Now this book, a book about flowers called My Book of Flowers, you formed a garden club in Monaco yourself.

Princess Grace of Monaco22:00

Yes, I did about um fifteen years ago.

Presenter22:04

And at Booming.

Princess Grace of Monaco22:05

It's doing very well, yes, and I think has brought a lot of pleasure to many people, and that's important.

Presenter22:12

What are its activities apart from encouraging people to grow flowers and tend them?

Princess Grace of Monaco22:18

Well, it's to awaken an interest and love of flowers and to encourage a respect for nature. Each spring I organize a competition of flower arranging in May, early in May. And it's an international competition. We've had people from all over the world and uh it's it's been very nice and very successful.

Speaker 422:29

Yeah.

Presenter22:29

Uh

Presenter22:39

Now your flower pictures. These are our pressed flowers.

Princess Grace of Monaco22:43

Yes, I started doing this a few years ago and uh became absolutely fascinated by it, and it's been a source of great joy to me to be able to do these.

Presenter22:53

Some of them are very intricate and and very colorful. You gave an exhibition in Paris.

Princess Grace of Monaco22:58

Yes, I've had two uh exhibits in Paris.

Presenter23:01

Now in the book you cover pretty well everything, the use of herbs, which is fascinating, and flowers and literature, and cacti, and of course the Jardin ex article, one of the glories of Monaco.

Princess Grace of Monaco23:15

Yes, we have a wonderful garden. It's quite a unique collection that we started about eighty years ago.

Presenter23:22

You like to talk to flowers, don't you?

Princess Grace of Monaco23:25

Oh yes. Trees too.

Presenter23:28

And now we got to record number seven.

Princess Grace of Monaco23:30

Well, I love the uh the London symphonies of of Haydn, and uh so I've chosen one, the clock played by the uh Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields.

Presenter24:27

The minuet from Haydn's Clock Symphony, Symphony No. Hundred and One, in D.

Presenter24:34

Now the practical problems of being a castaway. Could you look after yourself? C could you build a shelter of some sort?

Princess Grace of Monaco24:41

Well, I don't know, with great difficulty, I imagine.

Presenter24:44

Were you ever a Girl Scout?

Princess Grace of Monaco24:46

I was a Girl Scout, yes.

Presenter24:48

So you you've camped out, done all that sort of thing.

Princess Grace of Monaco24:51

Oh, yes, indeed. So I think I I could survive if the

Princess Grace of Monaco24:56

The weather isn't too difficult.

Princess Grace of Monaco24:58

We don't know where this island is, do we?

Presenter25:00

We don't know, but it's not a bad island. It's got everything on it that you need if you can find out how to use it.

Princess Grace of Monaco25:00

Don't

Princess Grace of Monaco25:04

If you can find out how I could manage to to rig up something.

Presenter25:10

Now, what about small craft?

Princess Grace of Monaco25:13

Do I have to have one? I I suppose to get off this island because I hope I don't have to stay too long.

Presenter25:15

Yeah.

Presenter25:17

Well, that's it. If you want to escape, you've got to have something to escape on the rubber.

Princess Grace of Monaco25:19

I've got to I have to make a raft, of course.

Presenter25:24

Do you think you'd manage?

Princess Grace of Monaco25:25

Oh, yes, yes.

Presenter25:27

Would you know which way to go? Do you know anything about stars or navigation?

Princess Grace of Monaco25:31

Yes, I I do know the stars. Splendid.

Presenter25:35

Well, fine. We look forward to seeing you back very soon. What's your last record?

Princess Grace of Monaco25:39

My last record is Cacheturian, because I think on this island I need to to have something a little lively to to stir the blood and keep me going. So I've chosen the sabre dance of Cacheturian.

Presenter26:57

Catachurian's Sabre Dance, the composer conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Presenter27:03

If you could take only one disk of your eight, which one would it be?

Princess Grace of Monaco27:09

I suppose the bersuse of Chopin.

Presenter27:11

Right.

Presenter27:12

And you're allowed to take one luxury with you to the island, something of no practical use.

Princess Grace of Monaco27:19

Well, I would like it to have a practical use. Well, I assume we have a a record player so I can listen to all of this.

Presenter27:26

Oh yes, you've got a solar powered record player.

Princess Grace of Monaco27:26

Do you got yourself?

Princess Grace of Monaco27:28

Very good.

Princess Grace of Monaco27:29

Well, I think I would have to take my two pillows that I need to sleep, because I can't sleep anywhere without my two pillows. I take them everywhere with me.

Presenter27:38

All right, two pillars. And one book, apart from the Bible and Shakespeare, which are already on the island.

Princess Grace of Monaco27:43

Well, I think I would take a collection of my Uncle George Kelly's plays.

Presenter27:48

Mm-hmm.

Princess Grace of Monaco27:48

Then I could keep busy playing all the parts and

Princess Grace of Monaco27:52

Uh Having a good time.

Presenter27:53

And put on a season when you got home.

Princess Grace of Monaco27:54

You've guessed.

Presenter27:56

And thank you, Your Serene Highness, for letting us have your choice of desert island discs.

Princess Grace of Monaco28:01

Thank you very much.

Presenter28:02

Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 328:10

You've been listening to a download from the Desert Island Discs archive.

Speaker 328:14

For more downloads, please visit the Radio 4 website.