Rainier Grimaldi was the 30th descendant of Otto Canella, who founded the house of Grimaldi. Born May 31, 1923, the son of a princess born out of wedlock, Rainier was heir to a family with a stormy past a harbinger of scandals to come.

The marriage of his great-grandfather Prince Albert to Lady Mary Douglas Hamilton was dissolved in 1880. Albert's son, Prince Louis II, had a youthful romance with a French girl in Algeria that produced Princess Charlotte, Rainier's mother.

In 1920, Charlotte married Rainier's father, Prince Pierre de Polignac. Rainier was born three years later, shortly before his parents divorced.

Educated in England, Switzerland and France, Rainier undertook military service near the end of World War II. He became Monaco's ruler at age 26 when his grandfather died.

As a youth, Rainier had a long romance with French actress Gisele Pascal, became a fan of jazz and studied oceanography, later helping to finance Jacques Cousteau's Oceanographic Institute in Monaco. He also developed a love of fast cars.

Rainier, who reportedly once considered Marilyn Monroe for his bride, met Kelly in 1955 when he was 31 and she was the 25-year-old star attraction of the Cannes Film Festival. She already had an Oscar from the 1954 film ``The Country Girl,'' one of only 11 movies she made.