Monaco was in mourning on Thursday ahead of a funeral on April 15 for Prince Rainier, the monarch who modernised the tiny Mediterranean microstate and touched the world with his fairy-tale marriage to Grace Kelly.
Rainier — who ruled the principality from 1949 and was the world’s second-longest-reigning monarch after the king of Thailand — died on Wednesday at 6.35am local time at the age of 81 after a month in hospital battling heart, lung and kidney problems.
His funeral will take place in Monaco’s cathedral on April 15.
He will then be interred in the crypt next to his beloved wife, who died in a car crash 23 years ago.
”It will be a simple funeral in accordance with the prince’s wishes, similar to the one for Princess Grace,” said Monaco Archbishop Bernard Barsi.
As news of his death spread, church bells tolled across the pocket principality, which is smaller than New York’s Central Park.
Television and radio stations interrupted normal programmes to air classical music and tributes to the late sovereign.
The flag above the royal palace was already at half-mast because of the death of Pope John Paul II. Elsewhere the national red-and-white banner — omnipresent in shops and on streets — was furled and tied with black ribbon.
A sign on the famous Monte Carlo casino said it was closed for the day as a mark of respect. It will close again the day of the funeral.
The mood among the devoutly Catholic population of 32 000 had been sombre for several weeks as both Rainier and John Paul II approached the end of their lives.
”That makes two exceptional men who have left us,” said Henri Natali, a retired police officer.
Groups of people met to discuss the news on the vast esplanade that fronts the 17th-century royal palace in the old town of Monaco overlooking the port. Black limousines bearing family members swept through the gates, as tourists looked on curiously.
The prince’s body is to lie for a few days in a private chapel in the palace before being carried to the town’s 19th-century cathedral for the lying in state. Officials will be able to pay their respects on Monday, with Tuesday and Wednesday set aside for Monaco residents.
The government said Monaco has declared a three-month mourning period until July 6 for members of the royal family and household — half that accorded to Princess Grace — with one month for civil servants.
Tributes were paid by many foreign leaders. President Jacques Chirac of France said Rainier was ”a figure who was universally respected and much loved in the principality … His courage and tenacity in the face of illness will remain with us as an example.”
United States President George Bush said Rainier ”will be remembered as a respected leader who secured the prosperity of Monaco’s people”.
Succeeding his grandfather, Prince Louis II, in November 1949, Rainier came to power three years before Queen Elizabeth II took the British throne. He was a descendant of the Genoese family of Grimaldi, which has ruled the tiny Mediterranean port since 1297.
In his 55 years in power, he is credited with turning Monaco from a Riviera Ruritania into a thriving centre of tourism and banking, using his contacts and acumen to diversify the economy and pull in business investment.
He also stoutly defended the rights of Monaco as an independent country, fending off attempts in the 1960s by France — with which it is linked by treaty — to curb its tax laws. In 1993, he brought the principality into the United Nations.
But the prince will always be best remembered for his marriage in 1956 to the Oscar-winning American film star Grace Kelly.
It started with a courtship at the Cannes film festival, was celebrated before millions of television viewers in a magnificent ceremony in Monaco cathedral, produced three children, then ended in tragedy in the September 1982 crash. He never remarried.
Grace’s glamour brought the Grimaldis into the media spotlight, and for much of his reign Rainier was troubled by the gossip surrounding their three children — Caroline, Albert and Stephanie.
Caroline’s divorce and the death of her second husband; Albert’s succession of jet-set consorts but persistent refusal to marry; above all Stephanie’s turbulent romantic life: the family’s private lives were on constant display in the glossy magazines.
However, Rainier himself retained his dignity, and there were no alarming revelations about his own personal affairs.
Born on May 31 1923, the son of Prince Pierre de Polignac and Princess Charlotte of Monaco, Rainier was educated in Britain, Switzerland and France, studying literature at Montpellier and politics in Paris.
In World War II, he served with the French army and in 1945 received the Croix de Guerre for liaison duties under enemy fire.
Rainier will be succeeded as prince by Albert, an accomplished sportsman and confirmed bachelor, who took over as regent on March 31. In 2002, the state’s Constitution was changed so that the title can pass through the female line if Albert dies childless.
In accordance with tradition, Monaco’s national day changes with Rainier’s death. It moves from November 19 — the day of St Rainier of Pisa — to November 15, which is St Albert’s Day. — Sapa-AFP