MONACO, Monaco, April 15 (UPI) -- Prince Rainier's status as ruler of Monaco, the world's second-smallest state, did not protect his family from heartache -- and some blame the Grimaldi woes on an ancient curse.
ABC News reports that Prince Rainier I is said to have raped a young woman seven centuries or so ago. According to legend, she became a witch to get revenge and cursed the family.
Since Rainier's marriage to film star Grace Kelly, the family has been constantly in the public eye. And much of what the world has seen has been sorrow, marital woes and other troubles.
They include Princess Grace's death in a 1982 car crash. Her daughter, Princess Stephanie, was in the car with her and there was some talk that she was the driver, not her mother.
Stephanie's life has been one of unsuitable marriages and affairs and an illegitimate child. Her sister, Princess Caroline, has had one divorce, a second husband killed in a boating accident and, more recently, the illness of her third husband, Prince Ernst August of Hanover.
