From Wikipedia.com Part 1
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco
Prince Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; May 31, 1923–April 6, 2005), styled
HSH The Sovereign Prince of Monaco, ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost fifty-six 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.
After grave illness in March 2005, Rainier died on April 6; his only son, Albert, succeeded him as Prince Albert II.
Early life
Of French, German, Scottish, English, Spanish, and Italian ancestry, 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 his partner, 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-Spanish 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.
The prince was a direct descendant of Stéphanie de Beauharnais, an adopted daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte, and of William Thomas Beckford, the scandalous 18th century English collector, tastemaker, writer, and eccentric.
Rainier was first sent to study at the Summerfield College 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 May 9, 1949, Rainier became the Sovereign Prince of Monaco on the death of Prince Louis II. His mother had previously renounced her rights to the throne in his favor.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the prince lived with the French film star Gisèle Pascal (née Gisèle Tallone, 1923–). The couple reportedly separated when a doctor declared the actress to be infertile; in fact, she later married and had several children.
Marriage and family
After a year-long courtship described as containing "a good deal of rational appraisal on both sides" (
Times of London, April 7, 2005, page 59), in 1956, Prince Rainier married Oscar-winning American actress Grace Kelly (1929–1982). Their children are:
- Princess Caroline Louise Marguerite, born January 23, 1957 and now HRH the Princess of Hanover and heiress presumptive to the throne of Monaco
- Albert II of Monaco, born March 14, 1958
- Princess Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth, born February 1, 1965
Prince Rainier has eight grandchildren:
- Andrea, Charlotte and Pierre Casiraghi - children of Princess Caroline and Stefano Casiraghi;
- Princess Alexandra of Hanover - daughter of Princess Caroline and Ernst August V, Prince of Hanover
- Louis and]Pauline Ducruet - children of Princess Stéphanie and Daniel Ducruet
- Camille Gottlieb - the illegitimate daughter of Princess Stéphanie.
- Alexandre Coste - the illegitimate, but recognised, son of Prince Albert II of Monaco and Nicole Coste
In the years since his wife's death, he was romantically involved with a distant cousin, Princess Ira von Fürstenberg, a former 'B'movie actress turned jewelery 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 Scotch–German wife of Prince Albert I of Monaco, though by Lady Mary's second marriage.
Rainer III 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.