Princess Caroline of Monaco’s husband, the prince of Hanover, was in serious condition in a principality hospital today, a palace official said.

Prince Albert took over Monaco’s royal powers yesterday, assuming all but the throne in the tiny principality after a royal commission decided that his critically-ill father was too sick to perform his duties.

MONACO'S ailing Prince Rainier clung to life today, breathing through a respirator in an intensive care unit, with doctors refusing to say whether he might recover and his subjects praying that he will.

Prince Rainier’s health has not improved during treatment in the intensive care unit of a Monaco hospital, and he was still breathing through a respirator, a palace spokesman said.