On this day in 1982 American actress Grace Kelly passed away following a major auto accident the day before. Kelly, who had married Prince Rainier III in April 1956 and became Princess of Monaco, was driving a 1971 Rover P6 3500 when she suffered a stroke. This led her to lose control of her car, in which her 18-year-old daughter Stephanie was a passenger, and it went over a steep 120 foot embankment.
Paramedics arrived to find Kelly alive but unconscious and in critical condition. They brought her to Monaco Hospital where they discovered she not only suffered brain injuries from the stroke, but thorax and femur fractures as well. As her condition worsened she was placed on life support. Her daughter was found to have a fracture of her seventh cervical vertebra. Prince Rainier had Kelly removed from life support and she passed away at 10:55 p.m. on this day in 1982 at the age of 52. Many notable people, including Cary Grant, Diana, Princess of Wales and Nancy Reagan, attended her funeral.
