Although Shah was ruling since 1941, he had no intention of hiding his new American paramour. To the contrary, he invited Grace to accompany him to the opera, amid great pomp and circumstance. He was besotted by her and demonstrated his feelings in the way he understood – presenting her with three pieces of Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry: a gold birdcage housing a diamond and sapphire bird, all fashioned into a perfect pin; a gold vanity case with a clasp set with thirty-two diamonds; and a gold bracelet with an intricate pearl and diamond face.
Grace married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956. After Kelly’s wedding, Prince Rainier banned the screening of Kelly’s films, exactly what she had feared Shah of Iran would do. Even if Prince Rainier was jealous of his wife’s past romance with the Shah, by 1971 his jealously had subsided sufficiently for him to accept the Shah’s invitation for them both to attend the gala celebrations at Persepolis marking the two thousandth anniversary of the Pahlavi dynasty.
