The American Prince - Albert in Ocean City, N.J.

PRINCE ALBERT OF MONACO

As Prince Albert prepares to get married in Monaco this weekend, I thought it appropriate to point out that his mother was an American who spent ever summer of her life in Ocean City, NJ USA, except her last one.

She was literally the Princess next door [see: Atlantic City Magazine article] who was born in 1929, the year that her father built the Spanish Revival style brick home that still stands on the northwest corner of 26th street and Wesley Avenue in Ocean City. Her brother was a life guard and she worked as a waitress at the Chatterbox and hanged out with her sisters and friends at the 4th street beach. She celebrated her sweet 16 birthday party at the Seaview Country Club, and was sophisticated enough to get served at the bars in Somers Point before she was 21. She loved to act and danced at Bay Shores and Tony Marts.

Grace Kelly left town for Broadway and then Hollywood, but always came back to Ocean City every summer to spend time with her family. One summer she brought a guest with her - Prince Rainier III of Monaco, who she met while filming To Catch a Thief in Monte Carlo.

She had previously brought home guys who her father John B. and brother "Kell," both Olympic rowing champions, thought the less of, and just didn't cut muster with them.

But Rainier was a "Man's Man" who John B. took a liking to, especially after he showed his knowledge of horses at the Atlantic City Race course.

Grace and Rainier were married in the "wedding of the century" that has never been eclipsed, though challenged by Princess Di and more recently by Prince William.

John B. leased an ocean liner for his family and friends to sail to Monaco for the affair, and a few years later, as Margaret, his American grandmother called him, "Bonny" Prince Albert of Monaco was born in 1958, and as the BBC reported at the time: “A celebratory 101-gun salute has been fired in Monaco after Princess Grace - formerly film star Grace Kelly - gave birth to a son.In spite of elaborate arrangements made for announcing the birth, the world learnt about the baby's arrival when a woman at a palace window shouted to waiting journalists: ;It's a boy, it's a boy.'"

"The 8lb 11oz baby who was born at just before 1100 local time is to be named Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre. He will be known as Prince Albert," and noted that,"The baby takes automatic precedence over his one-year-old sister, Princess Caroline. The young princess appeared on a palace balcony in the arms of her father, Prince Rainier III, shortly after her brother was born. Prince Rainier later broadcast an address to the nation announcing the Crown Prince's birth. Speaking to journalists, the princess' mother, Margaret Kelly said both her daughter and the baby were doing well. ‘It is a bonny, bonny prince,’ Mrs Kelly said.”

Officially noting the fact that, "Prince Albert was born March 14, 1958 to HSH Princess Grace (1929-1982) and HSH Prince Rainier III of Monaco. The day following Albert’s birth was declared a public holiday; flags and flowers were everywhere," and explaining the significance of the event because, "Albert’s birth ensured that Monaco remained independent of France for another generation. Under a treaty signed by both countries in 1918, if Monaco had no heir, it would become subject to French laws."

Although he was of European royalty, his mother took Albert and his sisters to Ocean City with her most summers to ensure that they experienced the American scene, and understood her mother's blue collar Irish background.

Although Grace's younger sister Lizanne missed the wedding because she was pregnant with her daughter, named Grace, she ended up babysitting Albert when he visited Ocean City with his mother. Lizanne once recalled to me that Albert developed a distinctly American streak in him, and his mother would have to scold him for riding his skateboard in the house.

By this time John B. had built another brick beach house across the street from the Spanish Revival one, and both John B. and Grace's brother Jack, or "Kell," as they called him, rowed with the lifeguards and spent a lot of time at the Atlantic City Race Track, which John B. had built and where Lizanne's husband Don worked as a steward.

Spending part of each summer with his mother in Ocean City, Albert and his sisters played ball on the beach with the lifeguards and ate at Mack & Mancos tomato pie on the boardwalk. When dinner was ready mother Margaret would ring the ship's bell that hung by the back door and everyone would come in off the beach. Margaret would later pass away quietly in the Linwood Convalescent Center.

In the mid-Sixties, I was their neighbor, and remember the large Kelly family frequently patronizing the 22nd Street Restaurant where I worked as a busboy. The restaurant was owned by Mr. Patradus, a friend of my father who was from Greece, and his restaurant was just around the corner from the Kelly house. The one thing about them was they weren't treated special and didn't seem to expect it. They were just another family on vacation at the Shore.

As the news report notes, "From all accounts, Albert had a happy childhood much as any other child. He attended school at the Lycee Albert I of Monaco where he received his baccalaureate diplomawith distinction in 1976. Then, from 1977 to 1981, he studied at Amherst College in Massachusetts and graduated on May 30, 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Following the time spent at Amherst, Prince Albert served in the French Navy as second grade sub-lieutenant, on board the helicopter-carrier 'Jeanne d'Arc'."

Albert not only was educated at an American college, he also participated in the Olympics, following the lead of his grandfather John B. and uncle "Kel," both of whom won Olympic medals in sculling. "Throughout his life, Albert participated in many sports, including soccer, handball, judo, swimming, tennis, sailing, skiing, squash, fencing and rowing and in several Winter Olympic Games as a member on the Monaco bobsled team."

Their cousin, former Navy Secretary John Lehman, still maintains the family's Ocean City traditions, and recalled how they all used to play very competitively in games on the beach. I'm pretty sure that John Lehman will be at the wedding, representing the Kelly side of the family, and make sure that the American streak is honorably exhibited during the proceedings.

Besides cleaning up his family's dinner plates as the busboy at the 22nd Street Restaurant, I had the honor of meeting Albert on two occasions, the first in 1983, at the Ocean City memorial service for his mother at the Ocean City Music Pier, and then again in 1988 in Australia.

After the memorial service at the Music Pier, I was invited to a second reception at the old red brick school house on Wesley Avenue in Ocean City, which has since been demolished to make room for a dog park. At the time however, it was being used as an Arts Center, and was right down the street from where I lived at 819 Wesley, and about twenty blocks from the Kelly beach house at 26th street, which was also on Wesley Avenue.

On the day Grace Kelly died, since our name was Kelly and we lived on the same street, we got a lot of wayward phone calls meant for them. The answering machine at my house had a dozen seemingly important messages from all around the world that my brother Leo dutifully transcribed and then delivered to the home of the Other Kellys on Wesley Avenue. We were the Camden Kellys and they were the Philly Kellys.

At the reception at the Arts Center, local realtor John Carey, another big supporter of the Ocean City Lifeguards, presented Albert with a plaque that he had handmade, while I drifted off into the corner with "Kell," Grace's brother.

While we sipped wine and dabbled in some cheese bits, I asked Kell to tell me his Olympic story so I would hear it right from the horse's mouth and not second hand, and he obliged. Back in the 1920s, Kell explained, his father, the late John B. was a sculler, as were most of the boys who grew up along the Schuylkill River near Conshohocken. His father John B. won the Olympic Gold Medals in singles and doubles but was not permitted to enter the elite British Henley races because he was a bricklayer and worked with his hands, and the Henley bylaws only permitted proper gentlemen to compete.

Well, from that time on, John B. raised his son to be a rower, and row he did. Kell not only rowed on the Schuylkill with the crews from Boathouse Row, but also with the lifeguards off the Ocean City beach. Kell said he was primed, his whole life from birth, to win the Henley. Although he only won the Bronze medal in the Olympics, he went to Henley to achieve what the British wouldn't allow his father to do, and that he did. Upon winning the Henley race on the Thames, he returned home to a hero's welcome.

While Kell was recounting the story, Albert came over and John B. introduced me to him and we talked briefly. Kell however, didn't last much longer, and he too died while jogging along East River Drive, now Kelly Drive in Philadelphia.

I thought it amusing however, that when Prince Rainier built some new ritzy apartment buildings on the hills overlooking the harbor at Monte Carlo, Grace was given the honor of naming them, and she chose to call them Schuylkill and Conshohocken, after the river and Philly neighborhood near where she grew up in East Falls.

A few years later, while I was in Freemantle, Australia for the America's Cup sailing regatta, Albert was the guest of honor at the America's Cup Ball, and we again crossed paths briefly on the dance floor. While I know he didn't remember me, I told him I was from Ocean City and his eyes lit up and he asked me to introduce him to Jimmy Buffet. Actually, the photo of me in a tux on this page was taken that night. The local Australians had a contest to see who would be Albert's date that night, but the spotlight was always on him and he couldn't let his American side out.

As the report continues, "Prince Albert has been preparing for the most import role of his life - that of future leader of Monaco. He attends cabinet meetings with Prince Rainier and heads Monaco’s delegation to the United Nations. Prince Albert also serves on several national and international committees, organizations and federations mostly related to athletic and humanitarian concerns. Prince Albert is also Vice-President of the Princess Grace-USA Foundation in honor of his mother who passed on September 14, 1982. He attends social and official occasions such as the yearly Red Cross Ball. As health problems continue to sideline Prince Rainier, Prince Albert finds himself more in the spotlight. Prince Albert has two siblings, an older sister, Princess Caroline and a younger sister, Princess Stephanie."

While Caroline and Stephanie have been pretty quiet of late, Albert has admitted fathering a child with a stewardess before his father passed, and has taken his responsibilities as a ruler of the municipality of Monaco seriously.

More recently, in early February, he hosted an emergency conference on the revolutionary crisis that is sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, recognizing its significance early and taking immediate measures to deal with it.

And now, following closely on the heels of Prince William, "Bonny" Prince Albert is getting married, much to the delight of the citizens of Monaco, who will undoubtedly throw a big party in his honor.

From my brief impressions of him, I'd say that Albert will not have as big affair as William, though I'm sure he'll consult with Willy before hand and there will be plenty of pomp and circumstance.

Prince Albert's wedding will certainly be a great event, and should include somethings that will represent and reflect his mother's influence and his American roots, though I don't think he will ride his skateboard down the isle.

Bill Kelly
billkelly3@gmail.com