MONACO, - Prince Rainier of Monaco died on Wednesday at age 81 of heart, lung and kidney problems after spending several weeks in hospital, the royal palace said.
The prince passed away at 6:35 am (0435 GMT), it said.
Rainier -- who ruled the tiny Mediterranean principality since 1949 and was the world's second longest-reigning monarch after the king of Thailand -- was hospitalised on March 7 with heart and breathing difficulties, and his condition took a sudden turn for the worse nearly two weeks ago.
He was moved to intensive care on March 22.
On March 31, the microstate's royal council decreed that the ailing monarch was no longer in a position to "exercise his duties," and said that 47-year-old Prince Albert -- his only son by US film star Grace Kelly -- was taking over as regent.
Albert and his two sisters -- Princesses Caroline and Stephanie -- had been regular visitors to Rainier's bedside.
In his 55 years in power Rainier is credited with turning the rocky statelet of just 32,000 inhabitants from a riviera Ruritania into a thriving banking and business centre. His marriage to Kelly in 1956 -- and her death in a car-crash in 1982 -- added to the air of jet-set romance.
04/06/2005 06:55 GMT