Prince Rainier III. has made Monaco what it is today: a jet set paradise. Accordingly, the 100th birthday of the late ruler is celebrated in the rock state on the Côte d’Azur.
He expanded the luxury port, had an underground train station built and the 35,000 square meter Grimaldi Forum congress and cultural center. He founded the world-famous circus festival of Monte-Carlo and brought glitz and glamor to the principality on the Côte d’Azur with his dream wedding to Hollywood star Grace Kelly. Prince Rainier III, who would have turned 100 on Wednesday (May 31), made Monaco what it is today: a modern city-state full of luxury.
The regent, who died in 2005 with the always well-groomed mustache, was extremely popular in his rocky state between France and Italy. He was considered the “Founding Prince” and “Prince Charming of the Riviera”. Accordingly, the principality also celebrates its birthday. The program of events, which extends over several months, includes a large folk festival, concerts, dance and several exhibitions about him and his life.
The Prince Charming of the Riviera
For more than five decades, from 1949 to 2005, Rainier acted as a political guide for Monaco’s future. He transformed financially struggling Monaco into a jet set paradise, modernized the mini-monarchy and expanded it to around two square kilometers through land reclamation – a territorial expansion without war or annexation, as he proudly said.
He made important constitutional changes. The Monegasque throne can now pass to the sisters of the incumbent prince or their children if the monarch dies childless. According to the original constitutional provision, the tiny state would otherwise have fallen to the protecting power France, with which it relied on close, but not too close, ties.
How Monaco became the Mecca of the rich
From operetta state to Mecca for the rich: an impressive legacy for a man who took power at the age of 26 and until then had mostly spent his time with starlets in fashion clubs or as a lover of fast cars on racetracks.
“His Serene Highness” was born on May 31, 1923 in Monaco as the son of the Hereditary Princess Charlotte of Monaco and Count Pierre de Polignac. Rainier spent his youth in boarding schools in Switzerland and England. He then attended the University of Montpellier and in Paris the renowned Institute for Political Studies (IEP), also known as Sciences Po. When his grandfather, Prince Louis II, died on May 9, 1949, Rainier assumed power at the age of 26. He was officially and solemnly enthroned on April 11, 1950.
Wedding to Hollywood star Grace Kelly
The smart adventurer was said to have had many romances, such as the one with French actress Gisèle Pascal. However, on May 6, 1955, Hollywood star Grace Kelly won the charmer’s heart on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival. Barely a year later they said yes: on April 18, 1956 in the registry office, the next day in church. From then on, the daughter of the millionaire family Kelly bore the name: Princess Grace of Monaco.
The “fairytale wedding of the century” of the beautiful blonde and the fiery dark-haired prince triggered enthusiasm worldwide. More than 30 million viewers followed the event on television. The wedding put Monaco at the center of international high society, bringing the rich and beautiful to the tiny state – and the tourists. Three children sealed happiness: Caroline was born in 1957, a year later Albert, Monaco’s current regent, and in 1965 Princess Stéphanie.
The children made headlines
His children and their love lives were always the cause of trouble and headlines. Stéphanie, in her wild years a pop singer and model, made Rainier a grandfather in 1992 without a wedding ring on her finger. Affairs with a gardener, a ringmaster and a Portuguese acrobat followed. In 1978, against the advice of her parents, Caroline married Philippe Junot, a financial broker who was notorious as a playboy, from whom she divorced two years later. And Albert was the playboy prince in the gossip columns.
The tragedy happened in September 1982. The car with Princess Grace and Stéphanie, who was 17 at the time, crashed into an abyss on a curve for an unknown reason. She died at the age of 52. Stéphanie escaped with serious injuries. Rainier never married again after the heavy blow of fate. Even more than before, he took care of his government business – like a “supervisory board chairman”, as he himself put it.
Rainier died at 6:35 am on May 6, 2005 from complications of lung and heart disease at the age of 81. Despite his long-term illness and multiple surgeries such as a bypass operation and the removal of part of a lung, the grey-haired prince kept the scepter firmly in his hand. Always following his motto, which is also on the event page for his 100th birthday: “You don’t have to be a big country to have big dreams, nor do you have to be numerous to realize them”.
Article on “pointdevue.fr” Biography on “gala.fr”
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
