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Philip Delves Broughton, in Monaco for the trial of Ted Maher, finds that the principality is a rotten little retirement home for fat catsIt was bucketing down in Monte Carlo and the casino was empty. Croupiers sat forlornly at the tables in the gilded Salle d’Europe and in the large private rooms at the back, overlooking a sheer drop to the Mediterranean. Several of them were horsing around with the sticks they use to gather in chips. The restaurant tablecloths were starched and laid with silver, but the waiters had no one to serve. A few old birds in dodgy...

MONACO, April 8 - While the television here plays vintage clips of the late Prince Rainier's storybook marriage to the American actress Grace Kelly, the unspoken question hanging in this tiny principality's crisp Mediterranean air is who the next princess will be. Prince Rainier's enigmatic son, Albert, who assumed Monaco's throne upon his father's death on Wednesday, is unmarried and has shown no public inclination to produce a royal heir. Choosing a bride to replace his mother, who died in a car crash 23 years ago, is an almost insurmountable task, people in the principality say. "People will be very...

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...

Prince Rainier III of Monaco died Wednesday, marking the end of a glittering royal fairy tale as tributes from dignitaries poured in. He was 81. Monaco's royal palace announced Rainier's death nearly a month after he was first admitted to a heart and chest clinic with a lung infection. "Each of us feels like an orphan because the principality has been marked by his imprint over the 56 years" Patrick Leclercq, Monaco's head of government said of Europe's longest reigning monarch. Rainier's son and heir Prince Albert was at his bedside when he was pronounced dead at 6:35 a.m. Rainier...

Rainier close to death March 28, 2005 PRINCE Rainier of Monaco was reported close to death last night and is being kept breathing by a life-support machine. He has been in intensive care for three weeks with an acute lung infection. As talk grew that Prince Rainier died on Saturday, French President Jacques Chirac was preparing to dash back from an official trip to Japan. Although Monaco is an independent principality, it forms an enclave in the south of France and its relationship with its larger neighbour is a crucial one.

Prince Rainier's condition has not improved, royal palace says Prince Rainier III of Monaco attends the Champions League soccer match AS Monaco versus FC Lokomotiv Moscow, in Monaco, in this March 10, 2004, file photo. (AP/Lionel Cironneau) MONACO (AP) - Monaco's ailing Prince Rainier clung to life Friday, breathing through a respirator in an intensive care unit, with doctors refusing to say whether he might recover. A health bulletin signed by three doctors appeared grim, saying the state of health of the 81-year-old head of Europe's longest-ruling dynasty - "remained worrisome." The prince was suffering heart, kidney and breathing problems...

Monaco on Death Watch for Prince Rainier Thursday, March 24, 2005 MONACO — Hooked to a respirator, Prince Rainier III (search) of Monaco was being treated for cardiac and kidney failure at a seaside clinic in the tiny Mediterranean enclave that he transformed into a glitzy resort for the rich. Throughout Monaco, Rainier's subjects braced for what they feared could be the final days of a man many revere as a father figure. On Thursday, Rainier was spending his third day in intensive care at a hospital with a view of his hilltop palace. "Monaco became Monaco thanks to him....

Monaco's Prince Rainier on respirator MONACO (AP) - Prince Rainier III is suffering from cardiac and kidney failure and has been placed on a respirator, the palace said Wednesday. An official medical update described the 81-year-old prince's condition as "stable" on the second day of his transfer into the intensive care unit of the Cardio-Thoracic Center. Rainier, whose movie-star wife, Grace Kelly, died in a 1982 car crash, was hospitalized two weeks ago with a chest infection. After a marked improvement, the prince's health suddenly worsened. A palace statement Wednesday said Rainier was transferred to the intensive care unit after...

MONACO (AP) - Prince Rainier III of Monaco, who was hospitalized two weeks ago with a chest infection, has been placed in the intensive care unit, the palace said Tuesday. After a marked improvement, "a recurring pulmonary infection required that the prince be transferred into an intensive care unit," the palace said in a statement. The 81-year-old Rainier, whose movie-star wife, Grace Kelly, died in a car crash in 1982, has a history of heart problems and has suffered from poor health in recent years. Rainier was admitted March 7 to a heart and chest clinic due to a "bronchial-pulmonary...