Rainier to be buried next to Grace Kelly

Monaco's Prince Rainier, who transformed his tiny principality into a haven for billionaires, will be buried next week alongside his late wife, US film star Grace Kelly, palace sources said.

State leaders and royalty are expected in Monaco's cathedral on April 15 for the funeral of the Prince, whose marriage to Princess Grace brought Hollywood glamour to the world's second smallest state after the Vatican.

Prince Rainier, 81, died on Wednesday after a month in hospital battling lung, heart and kidney problems. His body has been transferred to his palace, officials said.

"Tradition dictates that the body of the Prince stays in his apartments for a few days and is then transferred to the palace chapel, where the Monegasques can pay him a last tribute," Monaco's archbishop Bernard Barsi told reporters.

In line with his wishes, Prince Rainier will be buried in the crypt of Monaco's cathedral next to Princess Grace, who died in a car crash in 1982, palace sources said. Prince Rainier never remarried, saying years after her death that he still felt her absence.

Flags in Monaco flew at half mast on Thursday and yesterday, and the principality told theatres and concert halls not to stage performances until after the funeral.

Mourning will last three months for Prince Rainier's family. But Monaco's Formula One Grand Prix will go ahead as scheduled at the end of May.

Prince Rainier, Europe's longest-reigning monarch, will be succeeded by his 47-year old son Albert.

A former Olympic bobsleigh racer who has lived in the shadow of his sisters Princess Caroline and Princess Stephanie, Prince Albert took over his father's royal duties last week as hopes faded that Prince Rainier would recover.

"This is a man who has been prepared all his life for the responsibilities he's now holding," Patrick Leclercq, Monaco's Minister of State, told RTL radio.

"I think the main task will evidently be to make Monaco's economy even more diversified," he said, adding that the principality aimed to attract high-tech firms.

When Prince Rainier succeeded his grandfather, Monaco was best known for the casino on which its prosperity was founded in the 19th century. As Europe's last constitutional autocrat, he led Monaco into an age of skyscrapers, international banking and business.

Billionaires and millionaires poured in, drawn by the absence of income tax and the protection offered by the presence of policemen and security cameras on almost every street.

Key facts on Prince Rainier III

Monaco's Prince Rainier III, Europe's longest reigning monarch, died at the age of 81 on Wednesday after a battle with lung, heart and kidney problems.

Here are some key facts:

¤ Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand de Grimaldi was born May 31, 1923. He was a descendant of the Genoese Grimaldis, one of whom - Francois Grimaldi "the spiteful" - captured Monaco in 1297.

¤ The only son of Princess Charlotte of Monaco and Comte Pierre de Polignac, he was educated first at British schools, then at Le Rosey, an international school near Geneva, before studying at Montpellier University in southern France and in Paris, where he read political science.

¤ When he was, 21 his mother renounced her rights to the throne in his favour. An edict of June 1944 made him heir to his grandfather, the reigning Prince Louis II.

¤ In 1945 he won the Croix de Guerre with a bronze star for gallantry and two years later the Legion of Honour for military services.

¤ Louis II died on May 9, 1949, shortly after delegating his powers to the prince, who began his reign on April 11, 1950.

¤ Princess Grace, formerly Grace Kelly, the radiant American actress he married in 1956, died in a car crash in 1982. His two daughters Caroline and Stephanie had a series of high-profile relationships, while his heir, Albert, has not married.

¤ Europe's last constitutional autocrat, he led the tiny principality into an age of skyscrapers, international banking and business, earning himself the nickname "the builder". By the 1990s, gambling accounted for less than five per cent of Monaco's annual income, the bulk of revenue coming from value added tax, tourism, trade and industry. There is no income tax.