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    French Sketches: Monaco, Onassis, and Prince Rainier
    French Sketches: Monaco, Onassis, and Prince Rainier
    French Sketches: Monaco, Onassis, and Prince Rainier
    Ebook53 pages30 minutes

    French Sketches: Monaco, Onassis, and Prince Rainier

    By Paul A. Myers

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    In 1950, twenty-seven-year-old Prince Rainier succeeded his grandfather as sovereign prince of the little principality of Monaco on the French Riviera. The city-state’s principal attractions were the renowned casino at Monte Carlo and the beautiful belle époque Hotel de Paris. Unfortunately, the Russian nobility and English aristocrats who had lost fortunes at the casino were long gone. Into these impecunious circumstances sailed international tanker tycoon Aristotle Onassis who bought majority control of SBM, the holding company that owned the casino and hotel.

    Onassis had new money and old ideas about how to make Monaco prosperous again. He wanted to cater to a small audience of the very wealthy. In contrast, Prince Rainier wanted to develop a modern and larger market of well-to-do and affluent tax exiles, high income people attracted to favorable tax rates and beautiful Riviera weather. A power struggle between the two visions evolved over the next fifteen years until in the mid-1960s Rainier vanquished Onassis with the help of Charles de Gaulle, president of France.

    Along the way Rainier married movie star Grace Kelly in the greatest fairytale wedding of the twentieth century. In a more roguish manner, Onassis embarked on high profile affairs with opera diva Maria Callas, Lee Radziwill, and Jackie Kennedy, often using his luxurious yacht Christina O as a floating rendezvous for assignation, a perfect symbol for the lust, greed, and status behind these tabloid romances.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPaul A. Myers
    Release dateApr 27, 2012
    ISBN9781476473437
    French Sketches: Monaco, Onassis, and Prince Rainier
    Author

    Paul A. Myers

    Paul A. Myers is the author of the contemporary satirical novel "Greek Bonds and French Ladies," and the history-based novels "A Farewell in Paris," "Paris 1935: Destiny's Crossroads," "Paris 1934: Victory in Retreat" and "Vienna 1934: Betrayal at the Ballplatz." He also publishes short travel culture essays under the series name "French Sketches." Previously, he wrote the maritime history "North to California: The Spanish Voyages of Discovery 1533-1603." He is a self-employed CPA and lives in Claremont CA with his wife Minche, where both are active in fine arts groups. Myers served as co-president of the Scripps College Fine Arts Foundation 2008-2012. Paul and his wife are amateur francophiles and visit France regularly.

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      Book preview

      French Sketches - Paul A. Myers

      French Sketches

      Monaco, Onassis, and Prince Rainier

      Paul A. Myers

      French Sketches—travel essays providing cultural portraits of France

      Published by Paul A. Myers Books at Smashwords

      Copyright 2012 © Paul A. Myers

      All rights reserved.

      Please respect the copyright. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment. Do not reproduce or otherwise distribute the book.

      More ebooks and historical novels by Paul A. Myers at myersbooks.com.

      Send comments to mailto:myersbooks@gmail.com

      Author

      Paul A. Myers lives in Claremont, California with his wife Minche. He is the author of the history-based novels Paris 1935: Destiny’s Crossroads, Paris 1934: Victory in Retreat, and Vienna 1934: Betrayal at the Ballplatz and the maritime history North to California: The Spanish Voyages of Discovery 1533-1603.

      Author in Tuileries Garden, Paris, France.

      Chapter 1: A Sunny City State

      We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.¹

      Aristotle Onassis

      My wife and I explored the little principality of Monaco on two separate trips, exploring the high western plateau around the prince of Monaco’s palace on one go and the luxurious Monte Carlo section in the eastern portion on a second trip. On the first trip, we took a bus from Nice early in the morning on a clear June day. The big bus twisted down the narrow coast road high above a bright blue sea. After fifteen kilometers, we got off at a bus stop located under a high promontory upon which rests the Palais Princier de Monaco. The little principality of Monaco, at 482 acres, is the second smallest country behind the Vatican in Europe.

      In the 1930s, Somerset Maugham described the casino-based city-state as a sunny place full of shady people.² When Maugham traveled to lunch with the then ruling prince at the palace, he rode in his chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce. For those of you who left your Rolls Royce and chauffeur at home may I point out you get off at the second bus stop to see the palais. That’s where we started our trudge up the steep walk leading to a small square in front of the palace. At the top, we were greeted by a black statue of the first lord of Monaco, a tough-looking character furtively dressed in a monk’s frock with a sword hidden in its folds. He was the first Grimaldi.

      Chapter 2: The Crafty Ones

      That first lord of Monaco, François Grimaldi, was known as the Spiteful,³ and by other accounts as "le Malice – the Crafty One."⁴ He was of a seafaring family in Genoa with a knack for piracy on the side. Deciding to go into Riviera real estate, François led a small band of men up the cliffs one night to the front door of the castle, and, disguised as monk, knocked on the castle door and was granted admittance. He then pulled his sword from under

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