2 euro Monaco 2023 – centenary of the birth of Prince Rainier III

Rainier III (fr. Rainier III) full name – Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi – the thirteenth prince of Monaco from the Grimaldi dynasty. Ruled from 1949 to 2005.
Born May 31, 1923 and at baptism was named Louis-Henri-Maxens-Bertrand Grimaldi. Parents Charlotte of Monaco, Duchess Valentinois and Prince Pierre de Polignac.
The future ruler of the principality was educated in the UK, Switzerland (private school Institut Le Rosey) and France, where he graduated, in particular, from the prestigious Ciance Po, the Higher School of Political Sciences in Paris.
In September 1944, Prince Rainier entered the service of the French army as an officer and took part in the military campaign against Nazi Germany in Alsace.
He ascended the princely throne after his grandfather, Prince Louis II, died on May 9, 1949. Formally, Rainier’s mother, Princess Charlotte, was the heir to the title, but she renounced the throne in favor of her son.
In 1956, Prince Rainier married Hollywood actress Grace Kelly. In 1982, the prince’s wife died in a car accident. Despite the fact that the spouses had a difficult relationship with mutual insults and betrayals, Renier sincerely experienced the death of his wife and was crushed by her death.
Prince Rainier remained a widower until his death and was buried next to his wife Grace in 2005.

The couple had three children:
• Princess Caroline, (b. 1957),
• Crown Prince Albert (b. 1958),
• Princess Stephanie (born 1965).

Prince Rainier III was a world famous philatelist. During the years of his reign, he was personally involved in various aspects related to the preparation of drawings and the release of the final philatelic products of Monaco. Since 1948, when he assumed the Monegasque throne, the importance of the philatelic issues of this microstate has increased significantly. The prince is considered the author of the statement that postage stamps are “the best ambassador of the country.” The philatelic collection of Rainier III served as the basis for the Museum of Postage Stamps and Coins of Monaco.

Denomination: 2 euro

Circulation: 25,000