Britain Queen Elizabeth II

Princess Diana,Prince Charles

Princess Diana, Prince Charles

Prince Charles, Princess Diana

handout

queen roundup

Staff

Getty

KING CHARLES

Contributor

FILES-BRITAIN-ROYALS-CHARLES

4113_D039_00094_R
Saoirse Ronan stars as Mary Stuart in MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, a Focus Features release

other

Politics - World Leaders at Buckingham Palace, London

POOL

Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/09/uk-king-charles-iii-what-to-know/" target="_blank">King Charles III</a> prepares for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/18/king-charles-coronation-explained/" target="_blank">his coronation</a>, the heir to the throne has substantial American blood for the first time in history — with a connection to the Revolution.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/14/why-crown-wont-skip-prince-william-even-if-some-people-want-it/" target=_blank>Prince William</a> is one-sixteenth American <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/07/10/lady-dianas-american-cousins-38/e9ee96ae-86eb-48ba-a70c-7e13cf16ebdf/" target=_blank>through his mother</a>, the late Princess Diana, records show, and his lineage traces back to Benajah Strong, who was battling English troops when the first shots were fired in 1775.

That means May 6, when William will play a central role <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/24/charles-coronation-cosmati-pavement-socks/" target=_blank>at Westminster Abbey</a>, taking an oath of fealty to his father, will mark a family’s unlikely turn from fighting the monarchy to preparing to assume control of it.

“This speaks to the bond between Great Britain and America, as the American Revolution was more like the American Civil War in the 1860s, with many on both sides knowing each other,” said Joseph Stoltz, the library director at the Society of the Cincinnati, a hereditary group dedicated to the Revolutionary War.

The first Strong ancestor emigrated from England to New England in 1635, and Benajah Strong, William’s sixth-great-grandfather, was born in 1740 in Coventry, Conn. He signed on as a private in the Connecticut militia.

Charles III is the third King Charles. The first two had a pretty hard time.

Since the Boston Tea Party of 1773, New England had been under the surveillance of British regulars, dispatched to quell uprisings and root out rebels who had been recruiting men and forming militias. In April 1775, British troops moved from Boston toward Lexington and Concord, Mass., to seize the colonists’ military supplies and arrest revolutionaries such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

But the rebels mounted a formidable defense at both sites, aided by the “rapid-reaction force” of minutemen like Strong, who helped spread the word of a British expedition and save valuable assets, Stoltz said. Strong was known as a “Lexington Responder,” said John Holmy, Coventry’s municipal historian, who said he was unaware of Coventry’s connection to the Prince of Wales.

How a leak ruined Ben Franklin’s reputation and spurred the Boston Tea Party

Those opening skirmishes signaled this would not be the easy victory King George III had anticipated. The American War of Independence was underway.

“It is ironic that William’s ancestor kicked off the fight against Crown forces,” Stoltz said.

Nathan Hale Homestead Museum

Another William relative, Strong’s Yale-educated nephew Nathan Hale, had been working as a teacher in New London, Conn., when the war started. Like his uncle, Hale joined the Connecticut militia and quickly rose through the ranks. By the summer of 1776, Hale had been recruited to Knowlton’s Rangers, the first known U.S. Army intelligence unit, under the leadership of Col. Thomas Knowlton, according to Anne Marie Charland, an administrator at the Nathan Hale Homestead, which oversees the Hale family property in Coventry.

At the time, the British were inching closer to a Manhattan invasion, and Gen. George Washington was desperate to infiltrate their ranks to determine their next moves. Hale was the first to raise his hand. In September 1776, he went to British-occupied Long Island to spy, with the cover of an unemployed Dutch schoolteacher. Some historians believe his fatal mistake was carrying his Yale diploma with him. Later that month, when the Great Fire of New York ravaged the city, British troops rounded up hundreds of patriots for interrogation, and Hale was stopped in nearby Queens.

The British general William Howe grilled Hale at his military headquarters. On Sept. 22, 1776, two months after the Declaration of Independence, Hale was hanged at the age of 21, becoming the first spy for America to be executed, Charland said. His body was left hanging for days, as a gruesome reminder to those who dared defy the crown, but his possibly apocryphal final words — “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country” — lived on.

“He knew he might get hanged. He was a true believer,” Stoltz said.

Library of Congress

Many monuments have been erected in Hale’s honor, including one in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/capitol-art-slaveholders-confederates/" target=_blank>U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection</a>. Hale’s body was never recovered, but in Coventry, an obelisk stands in the Nathan Hale Cemetery, where members of his family are buried. In its shadow is the nondescript, weatherworn grave of his Uncle Benajah, a stark contrast to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/where-will-the-queen-be-buried/" target=_blank>the grand resting place at Windsor Castle</a> that awaits his royal descendant. Strong’s tombstone calls him “food for worms.”

The ugly reason ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ didn’t become our national anthem for a century

Strong’s son, Joseph Strong, became a leading physician in Philadelphia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, receiving a patent for his invention of a substance that can control bleeding during surgery. Eventually, William’s American ancestors ended up in Chillicothe, Ohio, where his great-great-great grandfather Frank Work became the ultimate American success story, according to Pat Medert, the archivist and historian at the Ross County Historical Society, which has tracked the royal family’s connection to its area.

Work, born in 1819 and raised by a single mother as the youngest of five children, showed a rebellious streak from a young age — scandalizing Chillicothe by riding a horse, quite unroyally, nude through the streets. He ran away from the Midwest at 15, established a prosperous dry goods business in New York and by 1874 had bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, Medert said.

Was Queen Charlotte Black? Here’s what we know.

Work soon entered the orbit of the 19th-century business titan Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the two men bonded over their love of all things equine. Work became so wealthy that in addition to his considerable real estate, he built a luxurious stable in Manhattan that was worth $100,000 at the time. When he died in 1911, he was a multimillionaire many times over.

His daughter and namesake, William’s great-great-grandmother Frances, kept it up, achieving the Gilded Age honor of inclusion on <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/02/16/108210917.pdf" target=_blank>Mrs. Astor’s “Four Hundred,”</a> a list of New York’s most promising socialites. Presciently, Frances came to be known as “Princess Fannie,” for her regality and charm.

She married James Boothby Burke Roche in 1880, a decision that outraged her father, who, correctly, believed Roche was just another British aristocrat who was after an American heiress’s money.

“I am American to my backbone,” Frank Work was reported to have said. “Therefore, I have only contempt for these helpless, hopeless, lifeless men that cross the ocean to carry off the very flower of our womanhood.”

Yet in 1961, across that ocean, Fannie Work’s great-granddaughter <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/20/princess-diana-death-anniversary/" target=_blank>Diana Frances Spencer</a> would be born on the royal family’s Sandringham estate. And, through her marriage to Charles, an American family with patriot roots would find its blood mingled with the British crown.

Stephanie Green

washpost

Prince William is descended from Americans, dating to Revolutionary War

the-washington-post

Getty Images

Herman Knippertz/AP

Prince William has American ancestors — dating to the Revolution

(Chris Jackson/Getty)

The Washington Post

Herman Knippertz/AP; Chris Jackson/Getty Images

name

iptc-media/politics/government

iptc-media/conflict_war_and_peace/armed_conflict/war

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/politics/government/defence

iptc-media/society/family

iptc-media/society

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Tito's KW List - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Johnson & Johnson KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Bed Bath & Beyond KWs - INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: USAA KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/P+ The Offer KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Workday Persona: CFO

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Kyndryl KW List - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Discover Card KWs – INCLUDES ANY

advertising/European Content

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - EXCLUDES ALL - 12.23.20

advertising/Disabilities & Employment 

client-blocklists/Louis Vuitton KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/United Airlines KW List - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Diageo - Johnnie Walker KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/ Client List: Mercedes EQS KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FlexForm KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Apple Marcom KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Organon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Verizon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Facebook KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Optum KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: GOLDMAN SACHS SEC KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/P+ Halo KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Hulu KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Mastercard KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T KWs 2022 - INCLUDES ANY - NEW

client-blocklists/Synchrony Financial KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Beto for Texas KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/LV Queen 2022 Neg KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/WaPo: Natural Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Hermes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Content About Unbanked Households

client-blocklists/Client List: PMI KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Ukraine-Russia (Apple News) KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AstraZeneca KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Showtime KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: ExxonMobil KWs - INCLUDES ANY Q4 2022

client-blocklists/Client List: Apple TV+ KW – INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Ronald McDonald House KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client Neg KW List: Omega KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Safeway KW List Commanders Q4 2022 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/PMI KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Marcus Goldman Sachs Neg KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY Q4 2022

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs Q4 2022 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/UVA KW List Q4 2022 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Citibank KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Citibank KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/SAP KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Fidelity Investments KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Turbo Tax KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: GM Energy KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/CME KW List 2022 - EXCLUDES ALL 

client-blocklists/Client List: EY KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Hermes (Alexandra) KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Content

client-blocklists/Marriott KW List Q4 2022 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/UVA KW List Q4 2022 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/DC Dept of Health Q1 2023 KW List - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: SAP 2022 KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/National Instruments KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Intel KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Equinor KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Mercedes KW List Q2 2023 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T Digital Divide  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Samsung 2021 KWs - INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Google PG Competitor KWs - EXCLUDES ALL 

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

client-blocklists/BP KWs Q2 2023 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY Q4 2022

client-blocklists/Amazon KWs 2022 - EXCLUDE ALL 

client-blocklists/Client List: GEICO KWs

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Novo Nordisk KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

prism://prism.query/site,/local/retropolis?limit=20

Retropolis

prism://prism.query/site,/history&limit=20

History

prism://prism.query/site,/world/europe&limit=20

Europe

The Washington Post provides the latest information and analysis on UK and European news. Includes news from the European Union, European commission news and European parliament news.

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/world/&limit=20

World

The Washington Post World section provides information and analysis of breaking world news stories. In addition to our world news and video, Post World News offers discussions and blogs on major international news and economic issues.