Rainier III. (Monaco)
Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Rainier Grimaldi (born May 31, 1923 in Monaco ; † April 6, 2005 ibid), son of Pierre Grimaldi , Duke of Valentinois , and the legitimate Hereditary Princess Charlotte of Monaco , was ruling prince from May 1949 to March 2005 Monaco .
Life
Rainier was sent to two English boarding schools, first to St. Leonards-on-Sea near Hastings in England , then to Stowe , a prestigious English private school in Buckinghamshire . From there he moved to the Institut Le Rosey , in Rolle and Gstaad ( Switzerland ). After graduating from Le Rosey in the summer of 1939, he first studied at the University of Montpellier , then at the École libre des sciences politiques in Paris .
Since his mother, Hereditary Princess Charlotte, had renounced the succession to the throne in his favor in 1944, and his father Pierre Comte de Polignac had been divorced from her by princely ordinance in 1933, he succeeded his grandfather, Prince Louis II of Monaco on May 9 1949 to the throne. Although Rainier had a complete government apparatus from the beginning, he decided every important detail alone and ran the principality like a family business . This was also due to the fact that his grandfather, who disliked him, had always tried to prevent Rainier from becoming reigning prince in the event of his death.
In 1950 he founded the Grimaldi Order .
In April 1955, he first met the American film actress Grace Kelly . The meeting was of the French magazine Paris Match been arranged in order at the Film Festival in Cannes to have after a prestigious headline. Just one year later, on April 18, 1956, the civil ceremony took place, and the next day, April 19, 1956, the church wedding to Grace, who from then on called herself Princess Gracia Patricia. The wedding made Monaco the center of international high society, brought tourism and money to the dwarf state. Half of the $ 2 million dowry was paid by Grace Kelly and half by Grace Kelly's father. The marriage went without any scandal. The children Caroline , Albert and Stéphanie emerged from her. Gracia Patricia's early death in a car accident in 1982 was a severe blow of fate for Rainier, as he viewed his wife and himself as a team both privately and professionally.
In 1974 he founded the Monte Carlo Circus Festival .
In the 1980s , Rainier expanded Monaco's economy with new investors from the chemical, pharmaceutical, precision engineering and cosmetics industries. He expanded the congress system , had a pier for luxury ships built and gained new land on the coast. He was able to keep Formula 1 in the country for years. Gambling , which used to be so important for Monaco's state finances, continued to lose importance during his reign.
Rainier's private fortune was around two billion euros . His possessions included the Monegasque Prince's Palace in Monaco , Marchais Castle near Paris, a private jet, a yacht, a 180-vehicle collection of vintage automobiles, one of the most valuable stamp collections in the world and shares in the Société des bains de mer , which among others operates the casino .
Sickness and death
Rainier's health had been in poor health since the 1990s . In 1994 he had a bypass operation, in 2000 he had three surgical interventions on the lungs in succession. In 2004 he was hospitalized with the flu and heart problems. On March 8, 2005, Rainier was admitted to the Monaco's Heart and Lung Clinic with pneumonia . On March 21, 2005, he was transferred to the intensive care unit.
On March 26, the hospital announced that his health had deteriorated significantly again. Pope John Paul II sent a special apostolic blessing to the family in Monaco shortly before his own death . Since the prince was no longer able to govern due to his illness, the business of government was transferred to his son Albert on March 31, 2005. Prince Rainier died on April 6, 2005.
In addition to the Grimaldi family, the mourners at the Monaco Cathedral included the French President Jacques Chirac , King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden , the Spanish King Juan Carlos and the Belgian King Albert II as well as Franz von Bayern , Eberhard Herzog von Württemberg, Prince Joachim of Denmark , Princess Zahra Aga Khan, Prince Alois of Liechtenstein , the Duke of York and Farah Diba .
title
The full title of Rainier III. read: Prince de Monaco, Duc de Valentinois, Marquis des Baux, Comte de Carladès, Baron du Buis, Seigneur de Saint-Remy, Sire de Matignon, Comte de Torigni, Baron de Saint-Lô, de la Luthumière et de Hambye, Duc d'Estouteville, de Mazarin et de Mayenne, Prince de Château-Porcien, Comte de Ferrette, de Belfort, de Thann et de Rosemont, Baron d'Altkirch et Seigneur d'Issenheim, Marquis de Chilly, Comte de Longjumeau, Baron de Massy , Marquis de Guiscard. The official title of the prince was Son Altesse Sérénissime le Prince Rainier III (German: His Highness Prince Rainier III.). A Germanization of his name to "Rainer III." Is (as with many modern members of foreign royal houses ruling after 1945) no longer common today than with historical rulers.
Direct descendants
Rainier's marriage to Princess Gracia Patricia produced three descendants:
- Caroline (born January 23, 1957)
- ⚭ (1978) Philippe Junot
- ⚭ (1983) Stefano Casiraghi
- ⚭ (1999) Ernst August von Hannover
- Albert (born March 14, 1958), since 2005 Prince Albert II. ⚭ (2011) Charlene Wittstock
- Stéphanie (born February 1, 1965)
- ⚭ (1995) Daniel Ducruet
- ⚭ (2003) Adans Lopez Peres
ancestors
| Pedigree of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (1949-2005) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great-great-grandparents |
Count Camille Melchior de Polignac |
Joseph Le Normand De Morando |
Francisco de la Torre y Cossío |
Gregorio de Mier y Terán |
|
Duke William Douglas-Hamilton |
Jacques Antoine Louvet |
Pierre Michel Piedefer |
| Great grandparents |
Count Charles Marie de Polignac |
Isidro Fernando de La Torre y Gil |
|
Jacques Henri Louvet |
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| Grandparents |
Count Maxence Melchior de Polignac (1857–1936) |
|
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| parents |
Count Pierre de Polignac (1895–1964) |
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literature
- Norbert Loh: Rainier of Monaco. A prince and his family . Knaur, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-426-66173-X
- J. Randy Taraborrelli: Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier: A Hollywood Tale in Monaco . Küger, Frankfurt a. Main 2004, ISBN 3-8105-1990-1
- Bettina Grosse de Cosnac : The Grimaldis. Past and present of the Princely Family of Monaco . Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2007; ISBN 978-3-404-61620-6 or ISBN 3-404-61620-0
- Jürgen Worlitz : Monaco tragedy and splendor of the princely family ; Moewig Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-8118-3925-X
- Gabriel Ollivier: Une dynastie millénaire: SAS Rainier III, prince souverain de Monaco . Monaco 1949
- Peter Hawkins: Prince Rainier of Monaco: His authorized and exclusive story . London 1966
- René Novella: Le jubilé de Son Altesse Sérénissime le Prince Rainier III: 1949–1999 . Edition EGC, Monaco 1999, ISBN 2-911469-14-3
- Frédéric Laurent: Le prince sur un rocher . Fayard, Paris 2003, ISBN 2-213-61340-0
- Philippe Delorme: Rainier, un prince de légende . Editions Michel Lafon, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-7499-0356-4
- Jeffrey Robinson: Rainier and Grace: An intimate portrait . Atlantic Monthly Press, New York 1989, ISBN 0-87113-343-1
- Rainier III. , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 36/2005 of September 10, 2005, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of the article freely accessible)
Web links
Wikinews: Rainier III. (Monaco) - on the newsIndividual evidence
- ^ New York Times: Monaco agein in an uproar; Divorce Suit of Prince Disturbs Politics of Little State Role of the Casino., March 9, 1930
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Ludwig II. |
Prince of Monaco 1949–2005 |
Albert II |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rainier III. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Grimaldi, Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Rainier |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Monegasque nobleman, Prince of Monaco (1949-2005) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 31, 1923 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Monaco |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 6, 2005 |
| Place of death | Monaco |