{"id":480880,"date":"2026-05-12T13:08:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/480880\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T13:08:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:08:24","slug":"michael-jacksons-secret-muse-princess-stephanie-of-monaco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/480880\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson\u2019s Secret Muse: Princess St\u00e9phanie of Monaco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sequins, fedoras, and an aura of mystery that was impossible to ignore. Michael Jackson<\/strong>, born in August 1958 in Gary, Indiana, evolved from the lead vocalist of a childhood band with his brothers (The Jackson 5 and later, The Jacksons) to become the most significant musician of the closing decades of the last century.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps even that title falls short; following the release of the film Michael, where his nephew Jaafar<\/strong>, son of Jermaine,<\/strong> portrays the early years of his stellar career, the King of Pop has become the first artist to land in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 across six different decades. It is a stunning milestone that reinforces the theory of the immortality of a performer turned legend.<\/p>\n

\"Michael\u00a9 Steve GranitzMichael Jackson performs at the Super Bowl XXVII Halftime show at the Rose Bowl on January 31, 1993 in California.<\/p>\n

There was a time when everyone wanted to be like Michael Jackson. Military jackets sold out in seconds, loafers paired with white socks became a major trend, and no one was immune to his charm. Not even royalty. And no, we aren’t just talking about the world-famous meeting between the King of Pop and Lady Di\u00a0<\/a>(at the time, the Princess of Wales), who attended one of the Bad World Tour concerts in London alongside the current\u00a0King Charles III<\/a>. It is said that, out of respect for Diana, he removed his hit “Dirty Diana” from the setlist.<\/p>\n

\"Diana,\u00a9 Princess Diana ArchiveDiana, Princess of Wales meets singer Michael Jackson backstage at Wembley Stadium in London<\/p>\n

The King of Pop found a muse for his music in another European princess. A very young St\u00e9phanie of Monaco<\/strong>, the youngest daughter of Rainier III and Grace Kelly<\/a>, was only 23 years old when she became the centerpiece of one of his biggest hits, “In the Closet.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The track belongs to the fourth album of his solo era, Dangerous, released in 1988, when he moved away from his family to fulfill his dream of becoming the greatest of all time. However, she did so incognito, making this collaboration one of the Princess\u2019s best-kept secrets.<\/p>\n

\"Michael\u00a9 Stephane Cardinale – CorbisMichael Jackson receives a prize next to Princess Stephanie of Monaco during the World Music Awards on May 8, 1996 in Monaco<\/p>\n

For years, the identity behind the magnetic voice intertwined with Michael\u2019s remained a secret. St\u00e9phanie, faithful to her sense of discretion, recorded her parts in a single day and promised never to speak of what happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Princess\u00a9 ALAIN FULCONISPrincess Stephanie of Monaco fixes the microphone for US singer Michael Jackson on May 8, 1996 in Monaco after he was given the best musical album of all times award during the World Music Awards ceremony<\/p>\n

Fans speculated about who owned the words shared with the performer throughout “In the Closet” until, five years later, Jackson himself revealed who had lent her voice to the song.<\/p>\n

A couple of years before this unexpected collaboration took place, in 1986, St\u00e9phanie of Monaco surprised everyone by releasing her first song, “Comme un ouragan” (“Like a Hurricane”).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Stephanie\u00a9 Eric RobertStephanie of Monaco presents an award to Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

Following that success, the Princess expressed her desire to one day serve as the opening act for the King of Pop, specifically referring to his tour stop in France during the same tour where he met Lady Di. It was a goal she couldn’t achieve due to the negative reaction from Michael Jackson’s millions of fans.<\/p>\n

In 1993, they met again in Monaco for the World Music Awards, where St\u00e9phanie presented him with an award. This scene was repeated three years later, in 1996. “I have the pleasure of giving a special award to the man who created the best-selling album of all time. Ladies and gentlemen, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson!” she said on stage.<\/p>\n

\"Michael\u00a9 Jean-Pierre REYMichael Jackson and Princess Stephanie de Monaco at the World Music Awards 93 on May 12, 1993 in Monaco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sequins, fedoras, and an aura of mystery that was impossible to ignore. Michael Jackson, born in August 1958…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[18,117,19,17,25129,57765,337,210365,8505],"class_list":{"0":"post-480880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-michael-jackson","13":"tag-monaco-royals","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-princess-stephanie","16":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116561767253870854","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}