On 8 May 1996, Michael Jackson arrived in Monte Carlo for the World Music Awards at the Salle des Étoiles — a ceremony held under the patronage of the Monaco royal family and broadcast to around 100 countries. He collected five awards that night, and the presenter who handed him the biggest one had a secret connection to his music that fans had debated for years.
Her name was Princess Stéphanie of Monaco. She is the youngest daughter of Prince Rainier III and the Hollywood actress Grace Kelly.
Here is the connection. On Jackson’s 1991 album Dangerous, a track called “In the Closet” features a breathy female voice threaded throughout, credited only as “Mystery Girl.” Fans spent years guessing who it was — Madonna was a common theory. Jackson refused to say. The mystery lasted about five years.
It was Princess Stéphanie.
Michael Jackson Awarded by Princess Stéphanie
Which makes the moment on that Monaco stage rather lovely. Stéphanie stepped up and introduced him with the words: “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 was presenting an award to a man she had secretly recorded with. There is even a photograph from that night of her reaching over to fix his microphone.
It was not their first meeting either. She had presented to him at the same ceremony in 1993. Her brother, the future Prince Albert II, was also involved in the 1996 event, and photographs from the evening show Jackson alongside both of them and Diana Ross.
Michael Jackson – World Music Awards 1996 – Earth Song
Then came the performance, and it is the part people who were there still talk about. Jackson performed “Earth Song” on that stage, joined by a group of children. Billboard described the ending as an emotional finale. And by multiple accounts, the audience was so affected that people in the room were openly crying — including Princess Stéphanie herself, who had just handed him his award minutes earlier.
Monaco is not a music capital. It is a tiny principality better known for a Grand Prix, a casino and a royal family. For one night in May 1996, it held the biggest entertainer on earth, a royal family who genuinely admired him, and a five-year mystery about a voice on a record.
The princess who introduced him was on the album the whole time.