Excuse me, but do you happen to have Prince Albert in the can?
Posted on 04/06/2005 3:05:26 AM PDT by Samwise
Monaco's Prince Rainier III, who turned one of the world's smallest states from a faded gambling center into a billionaires' haven in more than half a century on the throne, died aged 81 on Wednesday.
The palace said he had died after a battle with lung, heart and kidney problems.
Rainier brought Hollywood glamour to Monaco by marrying the beautiful American actress Grace Kelly in 1956 and transformed the world's smallest state after the Vatican into a playground for the rich.
Princess Grace died in a car crash in 1982. He never remarried.
He will be succeeded as ruler of the tiny Mediterranean principality by 47-year-old Prince Albert, who took over his father's royal duties last week as hopes faded Rainier would recover.
A shy man, Albert has lived in the shadow of his more glamorous parents and sisters Stephanie and Caroline while being groomed for power as Rainier's only son. He has been linked to a succession of models and actresses but has never settled down.
"His Most Serene Highness Prince Rainier III died on Wednesday, April 6, 2005, at 6:35 in the morning (0035 EDT) at Monaco's Cardiothoracic Center following broncho-pulmonary, cardiac and kidney disorders," the palace said in a statement.
Rainier officially became monarch on April 11, 1950, but had already ruled Monaco for almost a year following the death of his grandfather.
He is expected to be buried next to his wife close to the palace after at least a week's mourning.
Flags were already at half-mast in Monaco in honor of Pope John Paul II. The mood in the principality was somber.
"Everyone here feels orphaned," Patrick Leclercq, Monaco's minister of state, said in a statement broadcast on French television.
Rainier strengthened the sovereignty of Monaco. It won a United Nations seat in 1993.
The presidents of France and Germany praised his reign.
"His Most Serene Highness Prince Rainier III was a unanimously respected personality, very much loved in the principality, and symbolized with strength the shared destiny of our two countries," France's Jacques Chirac wrote to Albert.
"His courage and his tenacity in the face of illness will remain an example for us."
But Rainier -- the world's second longest-serving monarch after King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand -- cut a lonely figure in later life as media focused on his children's problems and on charges that Monaco had become a mafia refuge for dirty money.
His daughters have had a succession of disastrous, high-profile relationships.
For all Monaco's prosperity, Rainier's reign appeared in some ways to support the myth of the curse supposed to have hung over the Grimaldi dynasty during its seven centuries of rule over Monaco.
Rainier was heartbroken when Grace died after the car she was driving skidded off a steep mountain road in 1982.
He never showed any sign of wanting to remarry. "I still feel her absence. It was a marriage of love," he said in 1999.
When Rainier succeeded his grandfather Prince Louis II, Monaco was best known for the casino on which its prosperity was founded in the 19th century.
As Europe's last constitutional autocrat, he led Monaco into an age of skyscrapers, international banking and business.
By the 1990s, gambling accounted for less than five percent of Monaco's annual income, the bulk of revenue coming from value added tax, tourism, commerce and industry.
Billionaires and millionaires poured in, drawn by the absence of income tax and the protection offered by the presence of policemen and security cameras on almost every street.
Critics say the property boom has turned the former coastal beauty spot, whose 30,000 inhabitants are squeezed into 500 acres of land, into a "little Manhattan."
Princess Grace was absolutely stunning.
Excuse me, but do you happen to have Prince Albert in the can?
I let him out. :^0
I remember his unconsolable grief when Kelly died.
I was in Monaco back in 1985 for the Grand Prix. Marvelous little state.
Princess Grace was stunning, She stunned about half the guys in Hollywood before she married the Prince.
Her daughters stunned a few too.
Despite that the prince married her and they had what seemed a good marriage. He lived a good life had the best of everything, didnt hurt anybody that we know of. None of us can hope for anything better.
Wasn't she adorable in Alfred Hitchcock's
"Rear Window" with Jimmy Stewart?
He is finally reunited with Princess Grace. May he rest in peace.
Monaco's Rainier, formerly known as the luckiest man alive thanks to his marriage to Grace Kelly, Dead at 81 After Long Reign
I don't know much about the man but if this particular exerpt says something about his character (ie. he could have had any woman he wanted........and didn't) then.........
May he be reunited with his Loved One.
"It's good to be the Prince."
Stunning, almost too pretty to look at.
Her really fell to pieces at Kelly's funeral. I think he mourned for her the rest of his life. On another note, I wonder if Prince Charles will postpone his wedding again for Rainier's funeral? Old Camilla would have a conniption!!!
May Prince Rainier rest in peace with his Grace...
Something for the "Crown Crew"?
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