ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080013
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
For the first time on American television, all four members of Monaco's royal family speak candidly with Diane Sawyer, in a special ``PrimeTime Live'' hour that airs on the exact anniversary of 700 years of Grimaldi rule. In interviews conducted recently inside the Royal Palace in the principality of Monaco, they address everything from the breakup of Stephanie's marriage to Caroline's rumored ill health to Albert's perennial bachelorhood. ``PrimeTime Live'' also incorporates an interview with Princess Grace conducted just three weeks before her death. ABC News ``PrimeTime Live'' airs tonight at 10 on WSET (Channel 13).
Following are excerpts of the interviews which will air on ``PrimeTime Live'':
PRINCE RAINIER:
ON MEETING GRACE KELLY:
``I don't really believe in love at first sight. I think true love has to be, uh, based on something, uh, at least, uh, that is more than a flint.''
ABOUT MARRIAGE:
SAWYER: ``What's the most important thing in a marriage?''
RAINIER: ``Mutual understanding . . . I mean, nobody must take over too much and I don't like these families where there is a dominating father.''
ABOUT HIS WIFE, PRINCESS GRACE:
SAWYER: ``You said once to a biographer, you said that . . . that she seemed melancholy at times?''
RAINIER: ``I think so, yes . . . You know, it was very difficult coming here and not managing the language well. Coming to this small community where a lot of people were pushing either to meet, to see or to criticize and she knew that. And I think the effort she made to take over these . . . these people was quite extraordinary. By charm . . . by being nice.''
PRINCE ALBERT:
ON AWAITING HIS FATHER'S DECISION ON HIS SUCCESSION:
``We don't necessarily talk about it. I have a feeling that, uh, we will both realize that the time has come, just by mutual agreement.''
PRINCESS CAROLINE:
ON HER FIRST MARRIAGE TO PLAYBOY PHILLIPE JUNOT:
``I'm [from] the generation of girls raised in Europe where there were strong principles that you did not leave home, uh, until you were married. Even if you worked. So having been told that I wasn't gonna leave home unmarried, by the time I was 21 I thought, you know, that was a way of independence - which it isn't. It's a foolish thing to think.''
ON HER STRENGTH THROUGH ALL HER TRAGEDY:
``It's when you have no choice. Strength comes when you're in a narrow alley and have no way of turning back, I think. It's circumstances.''
PRINCESS STEPHANIE:
ON THE SCANDAL WHEN PHOTOS WERE PUBLISHED DEPICTING HER HUSBAND, DANIEL DUCRUET, MAKING LOVE TO ANOTHER WOMAN:
``It's still so . . . new and fresh and I don't know how long the wound will take to . . . to heal, but it's sure that I see men in a very, very different way now. I never thought it would happen to us, so now I'm saying that if I didn't think it of him, then they're all the same . . . It's just a big, big disappointment in a human being, and that's the main thing.''
ON WHAT SHE'S LEARNED FROM THE ORDEAL:
``The main thing is I learned a lot about myself . . . I think because in a situation like that you kind of . . . you close off to everything and the best way I found to deal with it was to just look at it straight on. And so I did it that way, by being in my restaurant right after everything happened and facing the people's looks . . . and their remarks . . . and that's what helped me.''
ON HER HOPES FOR THE FUTURE:
``I believe that everything that happens in life is meant to be . . . and maybe it's because there's something better behind . . . I certainly hope so. I don't know if you really gain wisdom by suffering. But at one point you just say now . . . enough is enough.''
- ABC NEWS
LENGTH: Medium: 84 linesby CNB