Albert II formally begins reign of Monaco

Prince Albert II of Monaco was enthroned yesterday, completing the formal succession in a process that began in July and marking the beginning of the playboy prince's reign of the tiny European principality.

Albert, the 47-year-old son of Prince Rainier and Hollywood actress Grace Kelly, was sworn in as head of state in July after a three-month mourning period for his father who died on April 6 at the age of 81 after having ruled for 55 years.

"Today is a day of joy in Monaco," Mgr Bernard Barsi, archbishop of Monaco, said during the ceremony at the Catholic cathedral, the site of Rainier's marriage to Grace, who was killed in a car crash in 1982.

The archbishop said that Albert was a worthy heir to a dynasty that has led the principality for more than seven centuries.

Revelations about the prince's love life, involving an admission that he had an illegitimate son with a French flight attendant of Togolese origin, had threatened to overshadow his investiture in July.

About 900 people packed the cathedral, including foreign dignitaries and royalty, although no kings or queens attended. Mgr Fortunato Baldelli, special envoy of Pope Benedict XVI, blessed a kneeling Albert, as he and his sisters Caroline and Stephanie shed tears.

Albert, who has been called one of Europe's most eligible bachelors, was born on March 4, 1958. Educated in Monaco and the United States, where he studied political science, he then worked in Paris and New York and served in the French Navy.