Rainier Dies, Aged 81
G R A C E   K E L L Y

Report | 15/04/05

Prince Rainier of Monaco has died in hospital this morning. Monaco was immediately plunged into mourning and its famed casino closed its doors when the death was announced.

Prince Albert, his son and heir, was at his side.

The 81-year-old had suffered heart and kidney failure a fortnight ago, following a long period of ill health. He had been in intensive care since March 22.

Rainier's body was transferred from the hospital back to his hilltop palace shortly after his death and will lie in state in the palace's Palatine Chapel so Monegasques can pay their respects, said an official.

There was no immediate official word on funeral arrangements. Rainier was expected to be buried alongside Princess Grace at the 19th-century Monaco Cathedral, where they wed on April 18, 1956.

Beside her tomb is an empty slab of marble waiting to be engraved with the prince's name. Tributes flooded in from European leaders and politicians who praised Rainier - who had been Europe's longest-serving monarch - as a reformist prince.

A palace statement said Rainier died "as a result of the broncho-pulmonary, heart and kidney conditions that caused his hospitalisation.'' Rainier had in been hospital since March 7.

Flags, already lowered out of respect for Pope John Paul, remained at half-staff. The two Monaco-based TV networks immediately interrupted programming with documentaries on Rainier's life and reactions to his death.

Part of the super-rich Grimaldi dynasty, the prince famously romanced Hollywood star Grace Kelly when she was filming on the Med - and married her in 1956.

She died in a car crash in 1982.

Prince Rainier was Europe's longest-serving monarch. Monaco's royal palace said he died at 5.35am British time.

His death came nearly a full month after he was first admitted with a lung infection to a heart and chest clinic that overlooks Monaco's glittering, yacht-filled harbour.

Rainier's doctors called Albert a little before 6am local time to tell him that the end was near, the palace said.

The Prince's romance with Grace Kelly captivated the world. They met in 1955 when she was the 25-year-old star attraction of the Cannes Film Festival.

Their marriage in 1956 put Monaco on the world stage. He never remarried after her death in a car accident in 1982.

Albert, their only son, succeeds Rainier as Monaco's de facto ruler until a formal investiture ceremony expected after a mourning period.

Albert had already taken over the royal powers - but not the throne - from his father last week after a royal commission decided that Rainier was too sick to rule.

The 47-year-old Albert, groomed for decades to succeed his straight-laced father, is well travelled, multilingual and a five-time bobsledding Olympian.

In recent years he has been Monaco's top ambassador. A confirmed bachelor raised in the spotlight, he also has been seen as a sometimes reluctant heir.

Albert inherits a principality world-renowned for its casino and the annual Monte Carlo Grand Prix, but also eager to promote itself as a diversified, modern economy.

Monaco, no larger than New York's Central Park, is nestled on the Mediterranean Coast between Italy and the French Riviera.

After assuming the throne in 1949, Rainier embarked on five decades of relentless expansion.

Using landfill from the sea, Monaco increased its territory by 20 per cent.

Affectionately known as the "builder prince" Rainier oversaw the building of a whole new port, an artificial beach, a sparkling culture centre and an underground railway station.

A new breakwater was built to allow large yachts and cruise liners to dock in the main harbour.

Rainier's energies flagged with advancing age and illness.

The leader of one of Europe's longest-ruling royal families, the Grimaldis, Rainier suffered recurring health problems in recent years.

The silver-haired, portly prince underwent heart surgery in 1999.

In 2000, he had two operations including a nodule removed from a lung and was taken to hospital in 2002 for fatigue and bronchitis.

Recurrent chest infections put him in the hospital on numerous occasions thereafter.

Monaco has worked to overcome its image as a "shady place for shady people".

It came under fire in 2000, and its relationship with Paris came under strain, when a series of French official reports criticised its culture of banking secrecy and portrayed the principality as a haven for drug barons, money-launderers and tax dodgers.

Since then, however, Monaco has improved judicial co-operation and introduced comprehensive controls on dirty money, according to the global Financial Action Task Force on money-laundering and terrorist financing.

Report | 04/04/05

Statement from the royal palace read thus:

"The biological parameters are on the whole stable. However, the vital prognosis remains guarded."

Albert, who took over on Thursday as regent of the tiny Mediterranean principality, taking charge of all royal duties but not assuming the throne, said in a statement on sunday to the Vatican:

"The death of the sovereign pontiff wounds our souls - my sisters' and mine - at a moment when our dearly beloved father is struggling with affliction. This news marks us with profound emotion and with immense pain that we share with the Catholic Church."

Report | 01/04/05

Albert takes on the royal powers.

Prince Albert has taken over the royal powers of Monaco from his ailing father Prince Rainier, palace officials said yesterday.

The announcement gave no update on the condition of the 81-year-old ruler of the tiny principality, who has been in intensive care in hospital for nine days with breathing, kidney and heart problems.

A recovered Rainier could take back the powers, said the statement.

Albert, 47, is the only son of Europe's longest-serving monarch and his late wife, the film star Grace Kelly. A keen sports fan, he is often regarded as a reluctant heir.