Monaco’s Prince Rainier dead at 81

updated 3:21 p.m. ET April 6, 2005

MONACO - Prince Rainier III, whose marriage to American film star Grace Kelly brought elegance and glamour to one of Europe’s oldest dynasties, died Wednesday at the hospital treating him for heart, kidney and breathing problems. He was 81.

Rainier’s royal palace announced his death 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 harbor.

He had been Europe’s longest-reigning monarch.

The prince's funeral will be held on April 15 at the 19th-century Monaco Cathedral where he and Princess Grace wed.

Prince Albert, Rainier’s son and heir, was at his side when he died at 6:35 a.m. Rainier’s doctors called Albert a little before 6 a.m. to tell him the end was near, the palace said.

Rainier, who assumed the throne on May 9, 1949, also endured the tragedy of his famous wife’s death and relentless scandals — including international criticism of the principality’s tax laws — that plagued the final two decades of his rule.

Recurring health problems
The leader of Europe’s longest-ruling royal family, the Grimaldis, Rainier suffered recurring health problems in recent years. The silver-haired, portly prince underwent heart surgery in 1999. He had two operations the following year, including having a nodule removed from a lung, and was hospitalized in 2002 for fatigue and bronchitis.

AP file The wedding of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Hollywood actress Grace Kelly on April 18, 1956. Rainier died early Wednesday.

Recurrent chest infections put him in the hospital on numerous occasions. Most recently, he was hospitalized March 7 at Monaco’s Cardio-Thoracic Center with a chest infection. He was placed in intensive care two weeks later with heart and kidney failure and hooked up to a respirator.

Prince Rainier’s public appearances grew increasingly rare as his health deteriorated, although he attended Monaco’s top social event, the Red Cross Ball, in August 2004.

A Mass for the royal family was being held in the chapel on Wednesday evening. The family and royal household will observe a three-month period of mourning, ending July 6, the palace said.

Monaco government officials will observe a one-month mourning period. Drums used at the traditional midday changing of the palace guards were covered with black cloth Wednesday.

Rainier's son to assume throne
Monaco had been preparing for the demise of its prince for several years.

Prince Albert is unmarried and has no children. Monaco changed its succession law in 2002 to allow power to pass from a reigning prince who has no descendants to his siblings. Albert has two sisters, Princess Caroline and Princess Stephanie, both of whom have children.

Under Rainier’s leadership, the Mediterranean enclave partially shed its image as “a sunny place for shady people” and became a hub for the high-tech pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Rainier was known as the “builder prince” for his many infrastructure projects, and he increased the size of his territory by 20 percent with land reclamation.

“I am like the head of a company,” he once said of his role in transforming Monaco.

In 1993, Monaco gained the political recognition Rainier sought for his principality with its entry into the United Nations.

But it was his April 18, 1956, marriage to Hollywood heartbreaker Grace Kelly that put Monaco on the world stage and defined the golden age of his reign. For many, her death in a car accident on Sept. 14, 1982, signaled the end of Monaco’s halcyon days.

“She was always present and ready to do things either with me or for me if I couldn’t do them,” Rainier said of his late wife in a 1983 interview. “Let’s say the change is that we worked as a team and the team has been split up.”

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