Rowers competing for the Gold Cup got a royal visit on Thursday

On Thursday afternoon, the second floor of the Vesper Boat Club was filled with Olympians and world champions. That’s not out of the ordinary — Vesper’s stated mission is “to develop champions,” after all. But on this occasion, one of those Olympians also was a prince.

Prince Albert II of Monaco, on a visit to his mother Grace Kelly’s hometown, made a stop on Boathouse Row to meet with the rowers competing for the Gold Cup. The Gold Cup Challenge dates back to 1920 as a single-scull sprint race on the Schuylkill River, and the first winner was Philadelphian John B. Kelly, Sr. — Prince Albert’s grandfather.

“I’ve always felt very much at home,” Prince Albert told The Inquirer. “My family’s been great at making us feel at home. So it’s just a very special connection.”

The Gold Cup trophy, a solid gold cup engraved with Kelly’s name, vanished in the early 1960s, and the challenge disappeared along with it. The trophy turned up at an antique shop in 1996, and the challenge was brought back in 2011 and is now held annually on the Cooper River in Camden.

The main purpose of the prince’s trip was the 16th Planetary Health Award Ceremony held at the Perelman Theater on Friday. The event is sponsored by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, and honors figures and organizations committed to environmental conservation.

But the journey stateside was also a chance to reconnect with his roots. The Vesper Boat Club was where his maternal grandfather and uncle, Jack Kelly Jr., rowed. Even the road that brought the prince to the Vesper Boat Club on Boathouse Row — Kelly Drive — represents his and the Kelly family’s connections to the area.

Prince Albert arrived in the city the same day the Phillies were eliminated — “I was eagerly waiting to see some guys climb up poles and all that, but it was not to be,” he said — and spent one night of his trip at Grace Kelly’s childhood home in East Falls. He purchased the home in 2016, but the prince hadn’t spent a night there in more than 60 years, he said.

John B. Kelly, Sr. built the house, and Prince Rainier III proposed to Grace Kelly there in 1955. The building is now a historical landmark.

“It’s a great balance between memorabilia, and some of the furniture that was there originally ... with some upgrades of course,” Prince Albert said. “But it still has that same feel.”

» READ MORE: The Head of the Schuylkill Regatta is an ‘experience’ for rowers nationwide. Meet the woman behind the event.

John B. Kelly Sr. was one of the most decorated rowers of all time and was the first American Olympic triple-gold medalist in the sport. His son, Jack Kelly Jr., also was an accomplished sculler, and won bronze in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Prince Albert followed their footsteps to the Olympics, but competed in a completely different sport: bobsled.

“My parents encouraged [my] sisters and I to get engaged in sports from an early age, but knowing that this history of my father from my uncle, of course I felt inspired,” he said. “Just took took me a while to find the right sport that would let me reach that level to get me to major events. It would have been great to do it in rowing, but I wasn’t that good.”

Prince Albert competed in five consecutive Winter Olympics for Monaco from 1988-2002, in the two-man and four-man events. He has been an IOC member since 1985.

“I do row with my cousins, when they come over. We have a great coastal rowing race in Monaco,” he said. “It’s always great fun.”

The Gold Cup is slated for Saturday. Eight of the top male and female international single scullers were invited to compete following the Rowing World Championships in September. The competition still honors its first winner.

And exactly 100 years after John B. Kelly Sr. won his third gold medal in Paris 1924, Prince Albert will be at the 2024 Games in the same city, handing out rowing medals.

“He was a man with great values, great spirit, a great entrepreneurial spirit that was dedicated to his family; but also his great love for sports, and for competition, for succeeding,” Prince Albert said. “It’s something that we could all be inspired by.”