Grace

Striving to add oomph to his routine show-biz cum royal bio, Spada (Fonda, Hepburn, etc.) emphasizes that before she married Kelly slept around a lotWilliam Holden, Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper among the manyand suggests that for this well-mannered woman to whom ""appearances are everything'' her distress at her daughters' publicized hijinks had more to do with public image than with motherly concern. Ever a dutiful daughter herself, one who courted but never won her father's favor, at least according to Spada, Kelly's youthful rebellions caused her guilt, and she, unlike her daughters in their turn, was quick to heed parental censure. There are other poignancies as well, in plenty, in this re-creation of the life of modern legend's Cinderella as it segues toward the princess's 1982 death: estrangement from the prince, boredom with the principality, boozing. Still, the prince will be comforted to learn here that Her Serene Highness never broke her marriage vows. Photos. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates. (May 1)