Diana Spencer, Then 19, Started Sobbing in the Ladies’ Room As She Asked Princess Grace of Monaco for Advice About Marrying Royalty

Princess Diana and Princess Grace.

Less than a month after Prince Charles and Diana Spencer announced their engagement in February 1981, Diana met the woman who, up until Diana’s own arrival, was by most estimations the most famous princess in the world—Princess Grace of Monaco, or, as she was known prior to marrying Prince Rainier in 1956, Grace Kelly, the American actress. (Kelly won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in 1954’s The Country Girl, released one year before she met Rainier while overseas for the Cannes Film Festival.)

For a brief moment, the two most famous royals of the time (and, many would say, of all time) crossed paths. (Image credit: Getty Images)