Monaco's Prince Rainier Dead At 81

Europe's Longest-Reining Monarch Dies After Month In Hospital

(CBS/AP)  Monaco is a very different place from the one Rainier inherited, reports CBS News Correspondent Elaine Cobbe. He increased its stature, its wealth and its size, by reclaiming land from the sea. And by marrying movie star Grace Kelly, he brought glamour — and the jet set — to the tiny state.

Rainier had suffered recurring health problems in recent years. The silver-haired, portly prince underwent heart surgery in 1999. In 2000, he had two operations, including having a nodule removed from a lung, and was hospitalized in 2002 for fatigue and bronchitis.

Recurrent chest infections put him in the hospital on numerous occasions thereafter.

French President Jacques Chirac said he learned of Rainier's death "with much emotion and great sadness."

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, now the longest-serving monarch in Europe, also sent his family a message of condolence and was "saddened" to hear of his death, her palace said in a statement.

"With his entrepreneurial spirit, Prince Rainier played a decisive part in changing the principality in recent decades," German President Horst Koehler said in a telegram to Albert. "He fulfilled his duties as head of state with remarkable willpower until the end."

Rainier, from one of Europe's longest-ruling families, the Grimaldis, was a 26-year-old bachelor when he took the throne of the Mediterranean country nestled between Italy and the French Riviera in 1949.

His romance with Kelly captivated the world. She was a 25-year-old movie star when they met in 1955 at the Cannes Film Festival, and their marriage in 1956 put Monaco on the world stage.

Princess Caroline was born 10 months later, followed by Albert and Princess Stephanie.

Rainier never remarried after Princess Grace's death in a car accident in 1982.