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See also Prince Rainier of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, Count of Polignac; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005), styled
His Serene Highness The Sovereign Prince of Monaco, ruled the
Principality of
Monaco for more than 50 years, making him one of the
longest ruling monarchs of the 20th century.
Though he was best known outside of
Europe for having married American actress
Grace Kelly, he was also responsible for reforms to
Monaco's constitution and for expanding the principality's economy beyond its traditional
gambling base. Gambling accounts for approximately three percent of the nation's annual revenue today; when Rainier ascended the throne in 1949, it accounted for more than 95 percent.
Ancestry
Rainier III was of
French,
Mexican,
Spanish,
German,
Scottish,
English,
Dutch, and
Italian ancestry.
Through his great-grandmother
Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton, who was briefly Princess of Monaco, he was a descendent of
James IV of Scotland (descended from three of his illegitimate daughters). His great-great-great-grandmother was
Stéphanie de Beauharnais, the adopted daughter of
Napoleon Bonaparte and later the
Grand Duchess of Baden. Other ancestors include
William Thomas Beckford, the
scandalous 18th century English collector, tastemaker, writer, and eccentric.
Rainier was also a descendent of
William the Silent of Orange-Nassau, the main leader of the
Dutch revolt against the
Spanish Empire and ancestor to the current
Dutch Royal Family;
Hortense Mancini, the
Duchess of Mazarin and mistress of King
Charles II of England;
Gabrielle de Polignac, a favorite of
Marie Antoinette;
Joan of Kent, the first
Princess of Wales; King
Charles IX of Sweden; King
Frederick II of Denmark and Norway;
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor,
Claude, Duke of Guise and Prince Thomas M. Marciano II of Genoa.
Early life
Rainier was born in
Monaco, the only son of Prince Pierre of Monaco, Duke of Valentinois (né Count
Pierre de Polignac) and his wife, Hereditary
Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois. Born in
Algeria, his mother was the only child of Prince
Louis II and
Marie Juliette Louvet; she was later legitimized through formal adoption and subsequently named heiress to the throne of Monaco. His father was a half-
French, half-
Mexican nobleman from
Brittany who adopted his wife's surname, Grimaldi, upon marriage and was made a prince of Monaco by his father-in-law.
Rainier had one sibling, HSH
Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy, an unpopular figure generally believed to be meddlesome enough regarding her children's place in the line of succession to have forced Princess Grace to demand that she leave the country.
Rainier was first sent to study at
Summerfields School in
St Leonards-on-Sea, England, and later at
Stowe, a prestigious English
public school in
Buckinghamshire. From there, he went to the
Institut Le Rosey in
Rolle and
Gstaad, Switzerland, before continuing to the
University of Montpellier in France, where he obtained a
Bachelor of Arts degree, and finally to the
Institut d'études politiques de Paris in Paris.
Rainier's maternal grandfather,
Prince Louis II, had been a general in the French army during
World War I. During
World War II, Rainier served as an artillery officer in the army. As a
second lieutenant, he fought so courageously during the German counter-offensive in
Alsace that he won the
Croix de Guerre and
Bronze Star and was given the rank of Chevalier in the
Legion of Honor.
On 9 May 1949, Rainier became the Sovereign Prince of Monaco on the death of Prince Louis II, his mother having renounced her rights to the throne in his favor in 1944.
Early romance
In the 1940s and 1950s, the prince openly lived with the French film star
Gisèle Pascal. The couple reportedly separated when a
doctor declared her to be infertile; in fact, she later married and had a child.
Marriage and family
After a year-long courtship described as containing "a good deal of rational appraisal on both sides" (
The Times, 7 April 2005, page 59), in
Monaco civilly on 18 April 1956 and religiously on 19 April 1956, Prince Rainier married
Oscar-winning American actress
Grace Kelly (1929–1982). Their children are:
Prince Rainier had nine grandchildren:
- Camille Gottlieb - the illegitimate daughter of Princess Stéphanie.
He was a hands-on grandparent which is unusual in a monarchy. He was often seen with Caroline and Stephanie's children.
After his wife's death in a car crash in 1982, he was romantically involved with his second cousin, Princess
Ira von Fürstenberg, a former movie actress turned jewellery designer who is also a
Fiat heiress and the former sister-in-law of fashion designer
Diane von Furstenberg. Like him, she is a great-grandchild of
Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton, the Scottish–
German wife of Prince
Albert I of Monaco, though by Lady Mary's second marriage.
Rainier was also a
football fan, having followed
AS Monaco FC to the 2004
Champions League final. Monaco has for years hosted the
European Super Cup.
Actions as Prince
After ascending the throne, Rainier worked assiduously to recoup Monaco's lustre, which had become tarnished through neglect (especially financial) and scandal (his mother, Princess Charlotte, took a noted jewel thief known as René the Cane as her lover). According to numerous obituaries, the prince was faced upon his ascension with a treasury that was practically empty. The holder of 55 percent of the nation's reserves, the
Societé Monégasque de Banques et de Métaux Précieux, was bankrupt. The small nation's traditional gambling clientele, largely European aristocrats, found themselves with reduced funds after World War II. Other gambling centers had opened to compete with Monaco, many of them successfully. To compensate for this loss of income, Rainier decided to promote Monaco as a tax haven, commercial center, 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 the Société in 1964, effectively ensuring that his vision of Monaco would be implemented.
As Prince of Monaco, Rainier was also responsible for the principality's new constitution in 1962 which significantly reduced the power of the sovereign. (He 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 the prince and a National Council of eighteen elected members.
At the time of his death, he was the world's second longest-serving
head of state, ranking just below King
Rama IX of
Thailand. During the last two or three years of his life, Rainier was in the custom of asking his valet each morning, "Has Rama survived the night? Or did I just move up in the ranks?"
Illness and death
In the last three years of his life, Prince Rainier's health progressively declined. In early 2004 he was hospitalized for coronary problems. In October he was again in hospital with a lung infection. In November of that year,
Prince Albert 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 hospitalized with a lung infection. Rainier was moved to the hospital's intensive care unit on 22 March. One day later, on 23 March, 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, the following day, he was reported to be conscious, his heart and kidney conditions having stabilized. His prognosis remained "very reserved".
On 31 March 2005, following consultation with the
Crown Council of Monaco, the
Palais Princier announced that Rainier's son, Hereditary
Prince Albert,
Marquis des Baux, would take over the duties of his father as
Regent since Rainier was no longer able to exercise his royal functions.
On 1 April 2005, the Palace announced that Rainier's doctors believe his chances of recovery were "slim"; on 6 April it announced that Prince Rainier had died in
Monaco at 6:35 am local time at the age of 81. He was succeeded by his only son, who became
Prince Albert II.
He was buried on 15 April 2005, beside his wife,
Princess Grace, at the
Saint Nicholas Cathedral, the resting place of previous sovereign princes of Monaco and several of their wives, and the place where Prince Rainier and Princess Grace had been married in 1956.
Because his death occurred shortly after that of
Pope John Paul II, Rainier's death was overshadowed in the media.
Titles
Rainier's official shortened title was
His Serene Highness Rainier III, Sovereign Prince of Monaco; this does not include the many other hereditary titles acquired by the Grimaldi family (see
Prince of Monaco for a complete list).
His other non-hereditary titles and awards included:
Philately
thumb|[[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Monaco)#2005 coinage|Prince Rainier III commemorative coin]]
Rainier created a postal museum in 1950 by using the collections of
Albert I and
Louis II. Since 1996 this museum has been called
Musée des timbres et monnaies.
Creator of the philatelic
Club de Monte-Carlo in 1997, he organized with its members some exhibitions of rare and exceptional
postage stamps and letters.
Throughout his reign, Rainier surveyed all the process of creation of Monaco stamps. He liked stamps printed in
intaglio and the art of engraver
Czesław Słania.
Commemorative coin
Honouring the Prince on his death in 2005, a high value commemorative coin was minted with his effigy on it, the €10 gold
Prince Rainier III commemorative coin, minted also in 2005. On the obverse the effigy of the past prince is depicted; while on the reverse the Grimaldi's Coat of Arms is shown.
Ancestry
