Her heart and mind were set on an acting career, and she was sensible enough to know that if she accepted the Shah’s proposal she would have to retire from acting and be compelled to convert to Islam (although she was assured that she could practice her Catholic faith privately). She declined the King’s proposal.
In June 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Grace Kelly in their list of top female stars of American cinema. In 1993, she became the first U.S. actress to appear on a U.S. postage stamp. But many are not aware that she had a chance to become the Queen. The Shah and Grace met at the Waldorf toward the end of 1949, when the thirty-year-old Shah arrived in America on an official visit. The Shah and Grace dated at least six times, probably overlapping with Shah’s marriage to Soraya.
