Prince Rainier dies at 81

[The Czech Republic 0]

Prince Rainier III of Monaco, Europe's longest-reigning monarch, died today at the age of 81 in a hospital overlooking the tiny state he turned into a billionaires' paradise.

In a statement, his palace said he had been suffering heart, lung and kidney disorders. He died at 6.35am (0535 BST) with his son and heir, 47-year-old Prince Albert, at his side.

 

Prince Rainier, who had ruled Monaco since 1949, brought Hollywood glamour to the world's second smallest state when he married the actress Grace Kelly and transformed the principality from a faded gambling centre into a playground for the rich.

 

Flags in Monaco were today already at half-mast in honour of Pope John Paul II, and the mood was sombre. "Everyone here feels orphaned," Patrick Leclercq, Monaco's minister of state, said in a statement broadcast on French television.

The prince is expected to be buried next to his wife, who died after a car crash in 1982, following at least a week of mourning in the principality.

 

When Prince Rainier succeeded his grandfather Prince Louis II, Monaco was best known for the casino on which its prosperity had been founded in the 19th century.

 

As Europe's last constitutional autocrat, the prince led Monaco into an age of skyscrapers, international banking and business. By the 90s, gambling accounted for less than 5% of its annual income, with the bulk of revenue coming from value added tax, tourism, commerce and industry.

 

Billionaires and millionaires - drawn by the absence of income tax and the protection offered by the presence of policemen and security cameras on almost every street - poured in.

 

Prince Rainier also strengthened the sovereignty of Monaco and its territorial waters and air space were recognised as it won a UN seat.

 

However, he never remarried and cut a lonely figure in later life as the media focused on his children's problems as well as claims Monaco had become a mafia refuge for dirty money. His daughters, Stephanie and Caroline, have had a succession of disastrous, high-profile relationships.

 

Prince Albert, who will assume the throne, was for decades the understudy groomed to reign over the principality that has been run by his family for seven centuries. He is a shy man, often seen as a reluctant heir, with his only true passion being for sport.

 

He has remained unmarried and childless, causing such concern that the constitution was revised in 2002 to ensure that the Grimaldi dynasty, established in 1297, could be perpetuated.

 

According to Article 10, the next in line would be Princess Caroline, who is 48 and the oldest of Albert's two sisters. She, in turn, would be succeeded by her oldest son, Andrea Albert Pierre, who is 20.

 

Prince Albert took over royal powers - but not the throne - from his father last Thursday following a royal commission decision that the critically ill Prince Rainier could no longer rule.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/st...1453230,00.html

[2GOLD 0]

Dying within a week of the Pope assures most of the world forgets who you were or when you died.

 

 

Prince Albert, who will assume the throne, was for decades the understudy groomed to reign over the principality that has been run by his family for seven centuries. He is a shy man, often seen as a reluctant heir, with his only true passion being for sport.

 

The sport of hunting the greatest animal. Man.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Huh huh. It said "Prince Albert."

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

If that's the prince, I'd hate to know how old the king is...

[Vern Gagne 0]

I'd look for Prince Albert to be married within a year, and to have a child within two.

[SuperJerk 0]

I'm starting to think we need to start a "OAO Famous People Who Just Died" thread.