Prince Rainier conscious, but still reliant on respirator

PRINCE Rainier III of Monaco is conscious and his heart, lung and kidney functions have stabilised, the royal palace said yesterday, as worshippers in Monaco attended Easter Mass with a special prayer for Europe's longest-serving ruler.

The medical update came a day after the palace issued the most pessimistic report yet on the 81-year-old monarch's prospects for survival. He remains on a respirator.

"The cardiac, lung and kidney functions that did not stop deteriorating have stabilised," the palace said in the new health bulletin, signed by three doctors.