Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
This minuscule principality (0.75 square mile) borders only France and the Mediter-
ranean.Thecountryhasalwaysbeentiny,butitusedtobe...lesstiny.Inan1860plebiscite,
Monaco lost two-thirds of its territory when the region of Menton voted to join France. To
compensate, France suggested that Monaco build a fancy casino and promised to connect
it to the world with a road (the Low Corniche) and a train line. This started a high-class
tourist boom that has yet to let up.
Although “independent,” Monaco is run as a piece of France. A French civil servant
appointed by the French president—with the blessing of Monaco's prince—serves as state
minister and manages the place. Monaco's phone system, electricity, water, and so on, are
all French.
The glamorous romance and marriage of the American actress Grace Kelly to Prince
Rainier added to Monaco's fairy-tale mystique. Princess Grace (Prince Albert's mother)
first came to Monaco to star in the 1955 Hitchcock movie
To Catch a Thief,
in which she
was filmed racing along the Corniches. She married the prince in 1956 and adopted the
country, but tragically, the much-loved princess died in 1982 after suffering a stroke while
driving on one of those same scenic roads. She was just 52 years old.
The death of Prince Rainier in 2005 ended his 56-year career of enlightened rule.
Today Monaco is ruled by Prince Rainier's unassuming son, Prince Albert Alexandre
