Prince Albert of Monaco Is Coming to Mom Princess Grace's Hometown of Philadelphia! (Exclusive)

Prince Albert — an Olympian himself — will connect with his relatives who changed the sport of rowing

There will be a special royal "homecoming" in America this week.

Monaco's Prince Albert will be in Philadelphia this week, staying at the home he purchased in the East Falls section of the city (where his mother — Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly, who became Princess Grace of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956 — grew up) and participating in a riverside ceremony honoring three Olympic heroes…who just happen to be family.

The Prince, 65, who competed in five Winter Games, is actually a third-generation Olympian. His visit on Wednesday afternoon to the city's historic Boathouse Row is a long-anticipated family affair in tribute to his maternal grandfather, John B. Kelly Sr. (known as "Jack"), his son John Jr. (known as "Kell") and Jack's cousin, Paul Costello.

Related: Prince Albert of Monaco Says Mom Princess Grace 'Still Captures People's Imagination' 4 Decades After Her Death

The Vesper is one of a picturesque collection of landmark boathouses, quaint past-century shelters lining the Schuylkill River located about a mile from the city's center. Prince Albert’s family legend is so integral to telling its story that years ago they renamed the approach road Kelly Drive. Among Boathouse Row's most celebrated rowers are the only father and son team represented in the US Olympic Hall of Fame.

"Brickyard Jack” Kelly was arguably the greatest singles rower of all time, and his three Olympic gold victories in the 1920s literally turned the sport upside-down.

Before The Boys in the Boat and Chariots of Fire, back in the days before and immediately after the First World War, rowing was reserved for upper-class gentlemen. Events contested largely by competing English universities, Ivy League schools and amateur clubs, rich on maintaining tradition and determined to keep the riff-raff out. Long before the modern Olympic Games, rowing’s established main event was the Henley Royal Regatta, the mother cup of races, held since 1839.

One of 10 children, Jack was a true working-class hero. The native Philadelphian was a multi-sport athlete who had proven himself America's premier rower before World War I. After his three-year Army stint, he came out determined to make up for lost time. He started his own construction business ("Kelly For Bricks" ) and got back in the boat, winning over 125 consecutive single scull races.

Setting sights on the Royal Regatta, he applied to compete — specifically, its most prestigious singles event, the Diamond Sculls.

His application was denied for a confusion of reasons. According to the ruling committee, he was either refused because he had performed manual labor (the Regatta expressly excluded any contestant “who is or ever has been …by trade or employment for wages a mechanic, artisan or laborer”) or because a full decade before the War, previous Vesper Club members had behaved in a “non-amateur” manner by soliciting travel funds. Most believe that the British — having been bested in 1897 by an American — simply didn't want to risk a repeat beating on the Thames, certainly not by a working man who was also a son of Irish immigrants.

Jack didn't take rejection well. The English refusal decided him to enter the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp. There, he vowed he would row against Jack Bereford, who'd won the Diamond Scull.

In an exhausting heat, Kelly beat Bereford by a second, taking gold. Less than an hour later, he and Paul Costello took the double scull. It remains the only time in Olympic history any man has won gold in both.

According to legend, after his double wins, he mailed his cap to Britain's King George V with a note reading: “Greetings from a bricklayer.”

Related: Hollywood Royalty! Every Glamorous Photo of Princess Grace You Have to See

Four years later, at the Chariots of Fire games in Paris, he and Costello repeated, taking the doubles gold again.

Brickyard Jack's son Kell later took over the family oars. After serving in World War II, he won the Henley Diamond Scull in 1947 and again in 1949.

Beginning in 1948, Kell competed in four Olympics, winning the doubles bronze in Melbourne in 1956. He offered the medal to his sister Grace as a wedding gift. Staying on the water, he managed the eight Vesper rowers who won gold in Tokyo in 1964. Shortly before his March 1985 death, he was elected President of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Beginning in 1988, Prince Albert competed in five successive Winter Olympics, piloting Monaco's bobsleigh team. His family's Olympic connection is an inescapable heritage for him and his wife, Princess Charlene (she competed for South Africa at the 2000 Sydney Games). In fact, the couple went public at the 2006 Turin Games.

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The proximity of next year's Olympic Games in Paris means the event is already on both royal schedules.

"I've already signed up to present the medals for the double sculls," Prince Albert tells PEOPLE exclusively. The event will be held at the already completed Vaires-sur-Marne, 30 minutes outside Paris.

"And I've already asked my cousins to attend. We're thinking of doing a little photo exhibit of my grandfather and his cousin Paul to commemorate their wins in the 1920 and 1924 Games,” Albert adds.

The Prince admits the upcoming Games, which will include soccer matches in neighboring Nice, feel somewhat like they're being played “in my backyard.”

With Monaco just a little over an hour’s flight to Paris, Prince Albert says it’s a unique opportunity for the French and the Monegasque people to be engaged in the Olympics which happens only once in a lifetime.

"Well actually," Albert says with a smile, “Maybe twice. We're very lucky having two pretty close Olympics with Paris then the Winter Games in Milan-Cortina in 2026."

With personal histories and multiple national sports loyalties lying within the same household, the question of who to root for is obvious.

"So you're wanting to know, I suppose,” Prince Albert says. “Who do we root for — Monaco? For the U.S.? As a husband and father for South Africa?”

He adds, “Well, foremost officially, we're always there to cheer on Monaco. And then..."

"And then," he says with a laugh, "if they're not in the competition, it's pretty much open. But you know, between France, Italy, the U.S., South Africa, Ireland...we have things pretty well covered."

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