Grace and Rainier of Monaco in Valencia, Spain.
APRIL 1956.
The Princes of Monaco visited Valencia during the honeymoon of the qualified, at the time, as the “Wedding of the Century.” Curiously it was during that stay, between May 9 and 11, 1956, when actress Grace Kelly was visited by a Valencian doctor to certify her pregnancy. They arrived in Valencia on their Deo Juvante II yacht and, after visits to the Exhibition Fair, Cathedral, Town Hall, Ceramic Museum … Accompanied by the authorities, they heard mass in the chapel of the Palace of the Generalitat, former headquarters of the Diputación of Valencia, where they signed in the book of honour of the Diputación.
The General and Photographic Archive of the Diputación de Valencia preserves the images of the visit as well as the book of honor where they signed both and was illustrated with a drawing of Segrelles.
The creation of a book of gold or honor where the signature of the prominent figures who visited their headquarters or even of some of the members of the Deputation themselves, as in the case of the deputies of the first democratically elected corporation, was collected performed under the mandate of Rafael Cort Álvarez. Most of its pages have been decorated by illustrious artists such as Josep Segrelles, Ernesto Furió, Equipo Crónica, Andreu Alfaro, Alex Alemany, Rafael Armegol, etc.
This decoration of distinguished Valencian artists and the notoriety of many of its signatories, such as Francisco Franco, the kings of Spain, the emperor of Ethiopia, ministers, archbishops, ambassadors, JK Galbraith Dámaso Alonso turns this book into an authentic historical piece, whose validity covers the period between 1942 and 1986.