We presented Prince Rainier as he really was, in private, as a statesman, but also as someone upright and reserved, as portrayed by the media. In fact, he was an artist, fond of literature, romantic, and human. 300 images, some hitherto unpublished, from among 10,000, show how he was very much at ease in the Palace. He was born there, made it his home, unlike any of his predecessors, and built the image of Monaco there.

A modern State, open to the world: international recognition on joining the UN and Council of Europe, “updating” relations with France, settling the institutional issue by adoption of the constitution in 1962, revised just before his reign ended in 2002. His marriage to Princess Grace made Monaco a fairytale, yet he did not want a “luxury ghetto,” unlike shipbuilder Aristotle Onassis, the majority shareholder in the Société des Bains de Mer until 1966, a fan of elitist tourism. On the contrary, Prince Rainier saw business and tourism as complementary, welcomed cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and engineering firms, and created a rich agenda of cultural and sporting events making Monaco a continuous center of attraction.

Discovering the young man, husband, father: photos of him in pyjamas with his family early on National Day, the children opening Christmas presents by his side, or the letter to his friend Marcel Pagnol, telling of his joy in becoming a father. A man with a big heart, “paternalist” with the Monégasques, whom he considered his second family, sensitive to the loyalty of animals, with no “human comedy”… his secret “therapy” to unwind from all his paperwork was making wrought iron statuary in his studio in Rocagel, exhibited here for the first time. A few shots, hitherto unseen, reveal his mischievousness... A portrait in which he winks at the camera, another during the 1962 France-Monaco crisis, in which he wears a caricature mask of General de Gaulle, under the puzzled gaze of Princess Grace. The Prince embodied the traditions of his dynasty whilst at the same time modernizing it, reflecting each of the 20th century's changes.