Princess Stephanie has spoken of the family’s heartbreak after the death of her mother, Princess Grace, in September 1982.

The Princess has made her comments in a book entitled “Albert II of Monaco, the Man and the Prince” (Albert II de Monaco, l’homme et le prince), which is being published to coincide with the Sovereign’s 60th birthday on March 14. Point de Vue, the French weekly magazine, has published excerpts of the book in advance of its publication.

Speaking of the aftermath of the tragic car accident that took her mother’s life, the Princess said: “We all supported each other as we could. For me things were special, I was hurt, I stayed a little disabled for several months,” referring to the injuries she sustained when the Princess’s car left the road on a hairpin bend above Monaco.

“Each of us tried to rebuild ourselves, and all three of us pulled together for our dad, whose suffering was indescribable. It was him whose pain was the greatest, he who felt the most emptiness … the most abandoned,” the Princess explained, before adding that Princess Caroline, Prince Albert and herself strongly believed that family solidarity in the face of the tragedy would be the greatest help to their father, Prince Rainier III.

Prince Rainier died at the age of 81 in 2005. His only son Albert then became Prince Albert II of Monaco.