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BY A CORRESPONDENT
 April
9: The venerable Time magazine had egg on its face
last week, when its latest South Pacific edition announced the
death of Prince Rainier of Monaco, well in advance of the
ailing Prince's demise. The palace bristled, the public
protested and Time apologised for the incident. In the
next issue of Time South Pacific, Time will be
carrying an apology for Prince Rainier goof-up.
The blunder edition of Time was circulated in New
Zealand and Australia. The obituary said: "Monaco's beloved
ruler... although credited with modernising the tiny
Mediterranean principality during his 56-year reign, was best
known for his storybook wedding to
Academy Award winner Grace Kelly."
Time South Pacific termed the prince as a "playboy in
his youth" who later cleaned up Monaco's reputation as a
"sunny place for shady people".
As is the practice with many newspapers and magazines when
monitoring news developments of seriously ill people, Time
magazine had kept an obituary page of the beloved prince ready
for use just in case the Prince passed away at magazine
deadline time. There was another page which carried the actual
story on the prince's failing health. Time South
Pacific editor Steve Waterson told New Zealand's The Press
newspaper that Time was very apologetic for the
blunder. Mr
Waterson said that the production manager at Time was
away on leave, and her temporary replacement goofed up, using
one set of pages instead of the other.
Rainier's palace could not care less. A Monaco palace
media official said the royals were "very surprised and
shocked that such information should be released by such a
respectable magazine".
"It doesn't make any sense. I don't know on what basis they
have printed such information," the official was quoted as
saying in The Press.
Rainier, the prince of Monaco passed away early this
week. Ironically, in the forthcoming issue of Time, the
magazine will be retracting its earlier "death" news and
publishing the actual obit as well. The Prince of Monaco
must be turning in his grave.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
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