GILDED ROYAL LIFE ENDS IN DRUG SQUALOR

MICHELLE Lutken de Massy may have been born into a life of privilege but to
her neighbours she was just another drug addict -- noisy, unkempt and
potentially dangerous. As her corpse was removed from her west London
apartment last week few of those watching could have guessed the social
heights from which she had fallen. "There were always different men coming
to the house, day and night, and lots of noise," said one. "The upstairs
neighbour tried to get a court order to control the noise, but she
couldn't. She was such a wreck that we were worried she would drop a
cigarette and burn the whole place down."

But Lutken de Massy was not just another no-hope drug addict. The daughter
of a wealthy Norwegian businessman, she was a successful model who, at the
age of 18, married into Monaco's royal family. She became hooked on cocaine
at the age of 17 while working as a model in Milan. She quickly joined the
glamorous in-crowd of Monaco and in 1977 she married Baron Christian de
Massy, a nephew of Prince Rainier, head of Monaco's royal family.

The couple moved to New York, where they mixed with celebrities such as the
artist Andy Warhol and the singers Grace Jones and Marvin Gaye. Describing
her lifestyle, she once said: "For one party I invited 80 guests to a New
York restaurant. For pudding every guest was given half a gram of cocaine."

With the hedonism came tragedy. While staying in Miami, Lutken de Massy was
involved in a near-fatal car crash that damaged her memory. Her
relationship with de Massy crumbled and they were divorced in 1987. She
moved to London eight years ago, to a flat in Kensington. According to a
local cafe owner, she had been banned from most of the local bars and
restaurants after proprietors tired of her behaviour and inability to pay
her debts.

Neighbours said they had long been concerned about Lutken de Massy's
behaviour. "We were all very worried about her -- she was such a mess, and
so drugged up. She was walking strangely and had started using a stick to
help her walk. The flat was a real mess as well -- she was smoking heavily,
and there were cigarette ends all over the floor."

Friends say she never really got over the death of her close friend and
former lover Constantine Niarchos, the billionaire son of a Greek shipping
tycoon, who died of a massive cocaine overdose two years ago at the age of 37.

Lutken de Massy's own life ended last Sunday night, three days before her
42nd birthday. She was found by a friend, concerned after she had
complained of breathing difficulties the previous night.

A postmortem examination was inconclusive and further tests are being
conducted to establish the cause of death.

One of her few remaining friends said last week that she had recently spent
several months undergoing treatment for addiction at the Princess Grace
hospital in Monaco, financed by the Rainiers.

Arne Larsson, a Swedish shipping millionaire who had known her for more
than 20 years, last saw her in the hospital about two months ago.

"During the last seven years I didn't see her much. I would help her out
financially and chat to her on the phone," he said. "But, frankly, her
problems were too great for me to help, apart from financially."

Lutken de Massy never worked after her marriage and once confessed she had
spent her UKP200,000 inheritance on cocaine. She had lost touch with most
of her family and friends, according to her brother Eirik Lutken, 39, an
artist who lives with his wife and two daughters in Oslo. "She used drugs
and did not care for herself in recent years," he said. "Michelle felt she
was put out of the good society and abandoned by her old celebrity friends
and former partners, including part of her family. She was unlucky and lonely."

Lutken and his sister had plans to launch a charity to help young drug
addicts. "Michelle had a great wish to help young girls who got into the
same situation as her, hooked on drugs when she started her modelling
career," he said.

"Part of the project was to write a book about the real life of Anne
Michelle Lutken de Massy, her ups and downs, her fall from the royal family
in Monaco to her drug life. I think she would have liked me to continue
with the charity in her name."