Guillermo Vilas, the best Argentine tennis player of all time, turns 71. At the same time that he conquered tournaments and shone on courts around the world, the man from Mar del Plata dazzled the most beautiful women with his physique and also with a romantic spirit that led him to write poems and become a singer years later. One of his most famous romances was the one he lived with Carolina de Monaco in 1982 and the story of the photos that discovered that relationship is truly shocking.
Pascal Rostain, self-proclaimed king of the papparazzi, was the author of the photos that put romance on the covers of the main magazines in the heart of the planet. The historic images were taken on the beaches of Hawaii, in the boreal summer of 1982, and long after the publication, the French reporter told in great detail how he obtained the data to get the exclusive.
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The romance between Vilas and Carolina was born on April 13 of that year, that is, 11 days after the recovery of the Malvinas Islands by Argentina. The rumor spread quickly but there were no images to prove it.
Shortly after the sentimental relationship began, the tennis player invited the beautiful daughter of Grace Kelly and Prince Raniero to share a few dreamy days on the Hawaiian Islands, hidden from the press.
They chose Maui, a true paradise of sand and sea on the isthmus formed by two volcanoes in the middle of the Pacific. So that no one would discover them, they stayed at a one and a half star hotel, the Pioneer Inc., under false names. “I had the version that they were in Hawaii and Paris Match magazine sent me especially to try the exclusive”, says Rostain, who was given an unexpected stroke of luck by fate.
Guillermo Vilas and Princess Carolina of Monaco on their vacation in Maui, Hawaii, 41 years ago. They were discovered by a French papparazzi. (Photo: Pascal Rostain/Paris Match)
“For budget reasons I couldn’t stay in luxury hotels, so I ended up at the Pioneer. The first morning, when I left the room, I passed Carolina and Vilas in a corridor. I could not believe it. From there I began to follow them stealthily and I got photos of them everywhere. The most journalistically valuable I took on the beach. There were images of the princess cutting her hair, kissing each other… There were some that were not published because they were too risqué, “Rostain revealed in a book detailing his greatest achievements as” king of the papparazzi ” .
When asked how much he sold the photos for, Pascal says he doesn’t know, because he took them for the magazine. “I was an employee of Paris Match, but I know that they sold them in very good numbers to 47 different countries,” he says.
Also read: Guillermo Vilas, let no one talk: his wife’s lock, the incomplete photo and his mysterious sister
The romance between Guillermo Vilas, born in Mar del Plata on August 17, 1952, and Carolina de Mónaco, who is a year younger than him, lasted 5 months and ended in the middle of a painful moment for her. It is that on September 14, 1982, Grace Kelly died after surviving a traffic accident for a few hours: she lost control of her car when she was returning from her country house in Roc Agel to the Grimaldi palace, heart of Monaco. She, as the eldest daughter, had to adopt the role of first lady.
Guillermo Vilas and Princess Carolina of Monaco lived an intense five-month romance that was revealed by the photos of Pascal Rostain. (Photo: Pascal Rostain/Paris Match)
In a remote inn on the way to Nice, the tennis player and the princess agreed to an impasse that ended up being definitive. In that meeting, Guillermo gave her a valuable engagement ring, made with diamonds and with the letters C and G, his initials. She always wore that ring, without having to give explanations to her subsequent partners, since they are also her own initials: Carolina Grimaldi.
Vilas currently resides in Monaco with his wife, the Thai Phiang, and their four children: Andanin, Lalindao, Intila and the only son, Guillermo Junior. Suffering from Alzheimer’s, the tennis player receives all the care from his wife, who usually posts family photos. In his extraordinary career as a tennis player, he won 62 tournaments, including 4 Grand Slams.
2023-08-17 08:55:00
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