Rainier III of Monaco died yesterday at the hospital

Rainier III of Monaco, the prince whose storybook romance and marriage to the actress Grace Kelly helped promote the transformation of his tiny fief from a pastel postage-stamp fantasy on the Mediterranean into a steel-and-glass tax haven, died yesterday at a hospital in Monaco. He was 81. He had been suffering from heart, kidney and breathing problems. Crown &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/culture/2001/07/09/9661.html ' target=_blank>Prince Albert, Rainier's son and heir, was at his side when he died at 6:35 a.m., according to a statement issued by the palace. Albert took over as regent when his father became incapacitated last month. Albert is unmarried and has no children. But Monaco changed its succession law in 2002 to allow power to pass from a reigning prince who has no descendants to his siblings. Albert has two sisters, Princess Caroline and &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/culture/2003/01/21/42330.html ' target=_blank>Princess Stephanie, both of whom have children, tells the New York Times. A funeral is set for April 15, and a memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York will be at a later date, the principality's New York consulate said. Rainier, whose family has ruled Monaco since the 13th century, was the "builder prince" of Monaco, 485 acres and 32,000 people on the Mediterranean coast, says John Glatt, author of The Royal House of Monaco. He built the principality into a banking center and haven for the wealthy with favorable tax policies, and actually increased its size by adding 100 acres of landfill on the coast. After he became sovereign in 1949, Rainier realized the nearly bankrupt country needed more than its famous but run-down casino, the place that caused writer W. Somerset Maugham to dub Monaco a "sunny place for shady people." Rainier also needed an heir. Without a member of the Grimaldi family to rule it, the 700-year-old principality would revert to French control. His search for a bride included overtures to &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/363/14983_blond.html ' target=_blank>Marilyn Monroe. But he met Grace Kelly, the Philadelphia-born, Oscar-winning actress who looked the part of a princess, during a photo shoot on the Riviera. The two courted by letter, and their 1956 wedding was a television spectacular. Princess Grace's star power drew attention —— and tourists —— from the USA to the little Mediterranean city-state, reports USA Today. NR

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