Prince Rainier condition critical

Prince Rainier, who was hospitalized more than two weeks ago with a chest infection, was connected to a respirator Tuesday after his condition suddenly worsened.
He was also suffering heart and kidney failure.

The prince assumed power in 1949 and is credited with transforming tiny Monaco into a modern and sophisticated destination for wealthy Europeans. Prince Rainier’s married a movie star, American Grace Kelly in 1956.

Rainier and Kelly, had three children before the film icon died in a car accident in 1982.

The children — Princess Caroline, 48, Prince Albert, 47, and Princess Stephanie, 40 — were summoned to the hospital on Tuesday, palace sources said.

Prince Albert is next in line for the throne and would succeed immediately after his father’s death, although his investiture ceremony would not take place until a national period of mourning had concluded.

A specialist from Paris was consulted late on Thursday given “the gravity of the situation” and decided to keep the prince in intensive care, the palace said.

Rainier was admitted to the hospital earlier this month, suffering from a lung infection, and was moved to the intensive care unit Monday.

Rainier, whose Grimaldi family has ruled the low-tax haven for seven centuries, became Prince of Monaco after the death of his grandfather in 1949. His mother, Princess Charlotte, had renounced her claim to the throne in favor of her son.

He is the world’s second-longest reigning monarch, after the King of Thailand, and has reined Monaco for 55 years, longer than any of his predecessors since Prince Honore III, who ruled from 1733 to 1793.

He has suffered from off-and-on pulmonary and heart problems for years.

“Because of the fragility of his cardiac, respiratory and kidney functions, the vital prognosis remains reserved,” the statement said

“Every hour we turn on the news, hoping to hear something positive,” Nathalie Ponsenard, a Monaco nursery school teacher told the Associated Press in Monaco.
She pointed to the flag atop the hilltop royal palace.
“While it’s still up, we know he’s still alive,” she said.

Some residents braced themselves for bad news.

“He’s done so much for us, even for the young people,” said Melanie Poisson, a 17-year-old high school student. “He’s been prince for my whole life. It’s hard to imagine Monaco without him.”

Monaco changed its succession law in 2002 so that Albert can assume the throne even though he is unmarried with no children and has no descendants.

Under the revised law, power eventually could be passed from Albert to his siblings, who both have children

He proved to be a redoubtable leader, capable of standing up to some of Europe’s toughest politicians, including General de Gaulle, who wanted to limit Monaco’s independence in the 1960s.

Prince Albert has been photographed with a succession of actresses and models, including Claudia Schiffer, but remains unmarried and childless.

Princess Caroline is with her third husband, Prince Ernst August of Hanover, and Princess Stephanie, who has been a gossip columnist’s dream as a result of liaisons with an elephant trainer and two of her bodyguards — the first of whom she left when he was photographed in the arms of a Belgian stripper — is now married to a Portuguese acrobat.

Monaco has flourished under Prince Rainier. The Mediterranean climate, the casino, the tight security — there are more police officers per head of population than almost any other country — and, above all, the absence of income tax, has helped to attract some of the world’s richest people.

Formula One racing drivers are particularly prominent. Michael and Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard and Jenson Button are among the grand prix stars who have bought penthouses in the ugly, pink blocks of flats that have sprung up around the harbour