6 similarities — and 4 major differences — between Grace Kelly’s and Meghan Markle’s royal love stories

Grace Kelly and Meghan Markle. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images; CBS

Meghan Markle is frequently compared to Grace Kelly, who became Princess Grace of Monaco in 1956 and died on September 14, 1982.
Markle and Kelly were both famous American actresses before marrying into royal families.
However, Grace Kelly was forced to give up her career and Hollywood fortune to become a royal.

Grace Kelly and Meghan Markle were both born in the United States and married foreign royals.

Princess Grace and Prince Rainier in 1959; Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in 2019. Victor Blackman/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Grace Kelly was born on November 12, 1929, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to Biography, her father was a three-time Olympic gold medalist for rowing, while her mother was the first coach of women’s athletic teams at the University of Pennsylvania.

Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Doria Ragland, was a clinical therapist and yoga instructor, while her father, Thomas Markle, worked in television as a light and photography director.

Meghan Markle and Grace Kelly were both famous actresses before becoming royalty.

Grace Kelly holding her Oscar after she was honored as the “Best Actress” of 1954 at the 27th Academy Awards; Meghan Markle acting in “Suits.” Bettmann/Getty Images; Christos Kalohoridis/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images
Before becoming one of the most famous royals in the world, Grace Kelly had a highly successful career as an actress. She acted in her first film, “Fourteen Hours,” when she was just 22 years old. She got her big break in 1952 with the release of “High Noon,” which launched her career to new heights.

She went on to star in “Mogambo” opposite Clark Gable and Ava Gardner, during which time she was romantically linked to Gable. For her role as Linda Nordley, she was nominated for her first Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actress. She later won the Academy Award for best actress in 1954 for “The Country Girl,” beating out Judy Garland in “A Star is Born.”

In 2002, Markle landed her first official TV acting credit as Nurse Jill, a small role in “General Hospital.” However, she is best known for her role as Rachel Zane on “Suits.” She appeared in episodes from 2011 to 2018.

Princess Grace met her husband, Prince Rainier, on a photo shoot, while Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend.

Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly; Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during their first public outing together at the 2017 Invictus Games. Bettmann/Getty Images; Chris Jackson/Getty Images
According to Harper’s Bazaar, Grace Kelly was invited to join the United States Delegation Committee at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955. While in France for the festival, she met Prince Rainier III of Monaco on the set of a photo shoot. A year later, they were married.

In July 2016, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were set up on a blind date at Soho House in New York City by a mutual friend.

In their first sit-down interview as a couple, Markle told the BBC in 2017 that she didn’t know much about the prince or the royal family before the date.

“Because I’m from the States, you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the royal family,” she said. “I didn’t know much about him, so the only thing that I had asked [our mutual friend] when she said that she wanted to set us up, was, ‘Well, is he nice?’ Cause if he wasn’t kind, it just didn’t seem like it would make sense.”

Princess Grace and Meghan Markle both gave up their acting careers after getting engaged.

Grace Kelly on her wedding day in 1956; Meghan Markle on her wedding day in 2018. Mondadori/Getty Images; Jonathan Brady/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Grace Kelly briefly continued acting after it was announced she was engaged to Prince Rainier in order to fulfill her contract with MGM. In her final film, “High Society,” Kelly even wore one of the two opulent engagement rings given to her by Prince Rainier.

As Insider previously reported, according to The List, J. Randy Taraborrelli wrote in his book, “Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier,” that Kelly planned to continue her acting career after her wedding. However, the prince later said he and his wife had decided she would give it up.

 

“It was widely believed that it was Prince Rainier who made his wife stop acting, as Kelly had no plans of retiring at the time of their engagement,” The List said.

On November 29, 2017, immediately following the engagement announcement, it was officially confirmed that Markle would be exiting “Suits” after seven seasons.

“From all of us at USA Network and Universal Cable Productions, we want to send our most heartfelt congratulations to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on their engagement,” USA Network said in a statement.

“Meghan has been a member of our family for seven years and it has been a joy to work with her. We want to thank her for her undeniable passion and dedication to ‘Suits,’ and we wish her the very best.”

Her storyline was wrapped up with her character, Rachel Zane, marrying Patrick J. Adams, who plays her love interest, Mike Ross, throughout the show’s seven seasons.

However, her decision to leave Hollywood was apparently not one made by the royal family — Prince Harry told Oprah Winfrey his family suggested Markle should continue acting to earn money.

However, Princess Grace had to relinquish a majority of her Hollywood fortune to pay her royal dowry, something not required of Meghan Markle.

Prince Rainier of Monaco and American actress Grace Kelly during their wedding ceremony at the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, Monte Carlo, in 1956. The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images
Before meeting Prince Rainier, Kelly was on track to become one of the most financially successful actresses in the world. However, after she was asked to pay a $2 million dowry, the equivalent of roughly $20 million today, using her own money and family wealth, she essentially had nothing left.

When she died at the age of 52, Princess Grace only had a net worth of $10,000 and the deed to her grandfather’s small cottage in Ireland in her own name.