Posted on 04/03/2005 10:12:20 AM PDT by anniegetyourgun
MONACO, April 3 (Reuters) - The health of Prince Rainier of Monaco, who has been in intensive care for almost two weeks, remained stable on Sunday but his hopes of recovery were extremely weak, a source close to the palace said. "There is neither a deterioration nor a notable improvement in the health of the monarch, but the likelihood of a favourable outcome remains extremely weak," the source told Reuters.
On Friday, Rainier's doctors described the 81-year-old monarch's state of health as "precarious". Rainier's son, Albert, 47, has assumed the his sick father's duties as monarch of the tiny state on the Mediterranean coast.
Rainier, the widower of Hollywood film star Grace Kelly who died in a car crash in 1982, is in intensive care suffering from lung, heart and kidney problems.
He has reigned in Europe's last constitutional autocracy since 1949 and led Monaco -- a 2.5 sq km (1 sq mile) territory tucked between the French town of Nice and the Italian border -- into an age of skyscrapers, international banking and business.
Born on May 31, 1923, Rainier has cut a lonely figure in recent years as media attention has shifted from him to the turbulent lives of his three children.
His grandaughter is a little doll. Prayers for he and his family.
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