Rainier III of Monaco

Reign

Rainier became the Sovereign Prince of Monaco at the age of 25 upon the death of his maternal grandfather, Prince Louis II, on 9 May 1949. He worked to recoup Monaco's lustre, which had become tarnished through financial neglect and scandal (his mother, Princess Charlotte, took a noted jewel thief known as René the Cane as her lover). Upon ascension, the Prince found a treasury that was practically empty. Monaco's traditional gambling clientele, largely European aristocrats, found themselves with reduced funds after World War II. Other successful gambling centres had opened to compete with Monaco. To compensate for the loss of income, Rainier decided to promote Monaco as a tax haven, commercial centre, real-estate development opportunity, and international tourist attraction. The early years of his reign saw the overweening involvement of the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, who took control of the Société des Bains de Mer and envisioned Monaco as solely a gambling resort. Prince Rainier regained control of SBM in 1964, effectively ensuring that his vision of Monaco would be implemented.

During his reign, the Societé Monégasque de Banques et de Métaux Précieux, a bank which held a significant amount of Monaco's capital, was bankrupted by its investments in a media company in 1955, leading to the resignation of Monaco's cabinet. In 1962, Rainier ratified the Principality's new constitution, which significantly reduced the power of the sovereign. He had suspended the previous constitution in 1959, saying that it "has hindered the administrative and political life of the country". The changes ended autocratic rule, placing power with both the Prince and a National Council of eighteen elected members.

At the time of his death, he was the world's second longest-serving incumbent head of state, after King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, and the longest-reigning monarch in Europe.

Personal life

In the 1940s and 1950s, Rainier had a ten-year relationship with the French film actress Gisèle Pascal, whom he had met while a student at Montpellier University, and the couple lived at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Rainier's sister, Princess Antoinette, wishing her own son to ascend the throne, spread rumors that Pascal was infertile. The rumours combined with a snobbery over Pascal's family origins ultimately ended the relationship.

Rainier established a postal museum in 1995: the Museum of Stamps and Coins, in Monaco's Fontvieille district by using the collections of the Monégasque princes Albert I and Louis II. The prestigious philatelic collectors organization, Club de Monte-Carlo de l'Élite de la Philatélie, was established in 1999 under his direct patronage. The club is headquartered at the postal museum, and its membership restricted to institutions and one hundred prestigious collectors. Rainier organized exhibitions of rare and exceptional postage stamps and letters with the club's members.

Throughout his reign, Rainier surveyed the creation of Monégasque stamps. He preferred stamps printed in intaglio and the art of engravers Henri Cheffer and Czesław Słania.

Rainier's car collection was opened to the public as the Monaco Top Cars Collection in Fontvieille.

Marriage and family

The Prince met Academy Award–winning actress Grace Kelly, in 1955, during a photocall at the Palace scheduled to support her trip to the Cannes Film Festival. After a year-long courtship described as containing "a good deal of rational appraisal on both sides," Prince Rainier married Kelly in 1956.

The union was met with mass attention from the public, and was described as the "wedding of the century" and the "world's most anticipated wedding" by the media. The civil ceremony took place at the Palace on 18 April, with the religious wedding being held on 19 April at the Saint Nicholas Cathedral. Rainier wore a military uniform of his own design, based on the uniforms of Napoleon Bonaparte. Presided over by Bishop Gilles Barthe, the marriage was broadcast by MGM Studios, and viewed by over 30 million people across the globe. The couple honeymooned in the Mediterranean on their yacht, Deo Juvante II.

Princess Grace gave birth to their first child, Princess Caroline, on 23 January 1957. Their second child and heir, Prince Albert, was born on 14 March 1958. Their youngest, Princess Stéphanie, was born 1 February 1965, with all children having been delivered at the Palace.

In 1979, the Prince made his acting debut alongside the Princess in a half-hour independent film, Rearranged, produced in Monaco. After its premiere in Monaco, Princess Grace showed it to ABC TV executives, in New York in 1982, who expressed interest if extra scenes were shot. Later that year, Grace died in a car crash caused by a cerebral hemorrhage, making it impossible to expand the film for an American release. After Grace's death, Rainier refused to remarry. He established the Princess Grace Foundation-USA in 1982 in her honor, to support fledging American artists.

Until his death, Prince Rainier III would lay a single flower on the resting place of Princess Grace each morning.

Illness and death

Rainier smoked sixty cigarettes a day. In the final years of his life, his health progressively declined. He underwent surgery in late 1999 and 2000, and was hospitalised in November 2002 for a chest infection. He spent three weeks in hospital in January 2004 for what was described as general fatigue. In February 2004, he was hospitalised with a coronary lesion and a damaged blood vessel. In October of that year, he was again admitted to hospital with a lung infection. His son, Hereditary Prince Albert, later appeared on CNN's Larry King Live and told Larry King that his father was fine, though he was suffering from bronchitis.

On 7 March 2005, he was again hospitalised for a lung infection. On 22 March, he was moved to the hospital's intensive care unit. The following day, it was announced he was on a ventilator, suffering from renal and heart failure. On 26 March, the palace reported that, despite intensive ongoing efforts to improve the prince's health, he was continuing to deteriorate; however, on 27 March, he was reported to be conscious, his heart and kidney conditions having stabilised. His prognosis remained "very reserved".

On 31 March, following consultation with the Crown Council of Monaco, the Palais Princier announced that Hereditary Prince Albert would take over the duties of his father as regent, since Rainier was no longer able to exercise his princely functions. On 1 April 2005, the Palace announced that Rainier's doctors believed his chances of recovery were "slim". On 6 April, Prince Rainier III died at the Cardiothoracic Centre of Monaco at 6:35 am local time at the age of 81. His son subsequently became the new Prince of Monaco as Albert II.

His funeral was held on 15 April at the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate, where Rainier and Grace had married nearly fifty years earlier. He was laid to rest beside his wife. Rainier's death was overshadowed in the media, as it occurred shortly after that of Pope John Paul II.

Honours

• France: Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour
• Iranian Imperial Family: Recipient of the Commemorative Medal of the 2,500-year Celebration of the Persian Empire
• Italy: Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
• Nicaragua: Grand Cross of the Order of Rubén Darío
• Portugal: Grand Cross with Collar of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword
• San Marino: Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of Saint Marinus
• Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit

Awards

• International Olympic Committee: Recipient of the Gold Olympic Order

Monuments

In 2012, a monument to Rainier III and Grace Kelly was erected in Yoshkar-Ola, Russia.

Arms and emblems