With Rainier death, Albert becomes Prince of Monaco

Europe’s longest-reigning monarch, Prince Rainier III, died at 6:35 a.m. from heart, kidney and lung problems at the hospital overlooking Monaco’s glittering, yacht-filled harbor, the palace said. His only son, Prince Albert, was at his side, it said.

Reports said that Prince Rainier will lie in state in the palace´s Palatine Chapel, whose family dynasty took power in 1297, so Monegasques can pay their respects before the late prince is buried alongside his wife.

Flags were already at half-mast in Monaco in honor of Pope John Paul II. The mood in the principality was somber.

“Each of us feels like an orphan because the principality has been marked by his imprint over the 56 years” of his reign, said Patrick Leclercq, head of government in the principality of 32,000 people.

Rainier’s doctors had called Albert about 30 minutes beforehand to tell him the end was near, the palace said. The palace statement didn’t say if Rainier’s daughters, Princesses Caroline and Stephanie, were with him when he died.

With Rainier’s death, Albert took the title of Prince Albert II.

The only son of Rainier and Princess Grace, Albert becomes Monaco’s de facto ruler until a formal investiture expected after a mourning period. He took over the royal powers but not the throne last week after a royal commission decided Rainier was too sick to rule.

The unmarried Albert, who has no children, inherits a French-speaking principality smaller than New York’s Central Park but renowned for its casinos and the annual Monte Carlo Grand Prix.

Monaco changed its succession law in 2002 to allow power to pass from a reigning prince who has no descendants to his siblings. Albert’s sisters have children.

Prince Rainier was widely considered one of Monaco’s most powerful and effective leaders. During his 56-year rule, he transformed the principality, tucked along the French Riviera, from a mile-square outcrop of rocky land into one of the world’s most glamorous and moneyed capitals.

Under Prince Rainier, analysts say, Monaco became a financial power, and expanded physically as well, thanks in large part to an extensive landfill project.

Today, Monaco is home to some of the world’s richest and most famous people, not only because of its location on the Mediterranean, but also because of its status as a tax haven.

Over the years, the principality has become renowned for many other things: Its world famous Monte Carlo casino and ballet, its Grand Prix auto race, and the Grimaldi royal family who are regularly featured in photo magazines and tabloids.

Prince Rainier is perhaps best remembered for his marriage to American movie actress Grace Kelly, in 1956. Princess Grace gave Monaco a new luster, and the rich and famous flocked to the Riviera paradise. She died in a car accident in 1982.

More recently, Monaco was ranked briefly on a so-called “gray list” of money laundering states compiled by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force. And in 2000, French lawmakers criticized Monaco for tolerating financial improprieties, a charge the principality and Prince Rainier angrily denied. But today, experts say Monaco has cleaned up its reputation.