Cartier To Get Royal Treatment

Published on 06/08/09

The Rodeo Drive Walk of Style is apparently expanding the universe of "style legends" it plans to honor on the famed shopping street, adding movie stars and jewelry labels to the ranks of designers, photographers and costume designers when the late Princess Grace of Monaco and French jeweler Cartier are immortalized with permanent plaques placed on the sidewalk of the retail row Oct. 22.

As Grace Kelly, the future princess starred in a handful of movies including Hitchcock films "To Catch a Thief," "Rear Window," and "Dial M for Murder," and won the 1955 Academy Award for best actress in a leading role for "Country Girl."

She met Prince Rainier III of Monaco on a 1955 visit to the principality, and married him the next year, living in Monaco until her death in a 1982 auto accident.

Cartier, which dates to 1847 and recently marked the 100th anniversary of its arrival in the United States, has quite a track record with royal families. The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) dubbed the jewelry house "Jeweller of kings and king of jewellers," issuing a royal warrant marking the firm as supplier to the king. Numerous other royal families followed suit -- including the Principality of Monaco in 1920.