Princess Charlene of Monaco will travel to Bendigo to officially open the exhibition in her mother-in-law’s honour.

The event will be in the middle of Bendigo International Madison celebrations.

“It is going to be a massive weekend for Bendigo, particularly through the Grace Kelly exhibition, which is going to give our city terrific publicity,” City of Greater Bendigo city futures director Stan Liacos said.

“It could be one of the biggest events that Bendigo has ever seen when you consider there will be between 75,000 and 100,000 visitors – that’s the entire population of Greater Bendigo.

“It is more than an exhibition and the fact that we have Princess Charlene and Premier Ted Baillieu coming, it will attract national and international headlines.”

Mr Liacos said about 70 per cent of visitors to the exhibition would be from outside Greater Bendigo, providing $10 million for the town.

“It is great the launch is happening during one of our marquee events – the Bendigo International Madison,” he said.

“It is not just about the dollars and cents being spent at cafes, it is about civic pride major events bring and that has to be good for the longer-term prosperity of the community.”

Mr Liacos praised Bendigo Art Gallery director Karen Quinlan and the council’s tourism manager Kathryn McKenzie and their teams.

“This event has been three years in the making,” he said.

“Everyone has been working so hard towards Saturday and there will be alot of relaxed staff come Sunday.

“We are all very excited and looking forward to it.”