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After years of battling poor health, Prince Rainier of Monaco has died aged 81.
Prince Rainier, who began his lengthy reign of the tiny principality in 1949, died at 6.45am on Wednesday in the Monaco Cardio-Thoracic Center after battling heart and breathing problems for several weeks.
Rainier, who was one of the world's longest-reigning monarchs, was hospitalised on March 7 with a chest infection. He was transferred to intensive care on March 23, after his condition took a sudden turn for the worse. "We were thinking that he was going to be out of the hospital by the middle of this week," admitted a palace spokesman at the time. "When you are in intensive care, it's always serious."
In the days before his death, the prince's children, Albert, Caroline and Stephanie, rushed to his bedside as his health began to deteriorate. Last week, the palace confirmed Rainier had been placed on a respirator in intensive care and was suffering from cardiac and kidney problems.
The octogenarian's failing health had kept him from a number of official occasions over the past months, including November's National Day celebrations and the annual Christmas gift handout for children at the palace. He made a difficult recovery, however, and in January was moved to tears after a huge crowd of his subjects honoured him with a prolonged round of applause at the opening of Monte Carlo Circus Festival.
Increasingly frail, Rainier had required numerous hospital stays over the past decade. The Monegasque royal, whose 1999 heart surgery was followed by two more operations in 2000, spent nearly a week in hospital suffering from flu symptoms in 2003. He was admitted to a clinic in early 2004 for general fatigue, and underwent treatment for a coronary lesion in February of that year.
Now, with Rainier's long battle with illness at an end, Monaco is preparing to say goodbye to their beloved ruler.
Prince Rainier is survived by his son, Prince Albert, daughters Princesses Caroline and Stephanie, and seven grandchildren. His wife, Princess Grace neé Grace Kelly, died in a car crash in 1982. |
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