While there have in the past been such colourful, and funny at times, suggestions, that The Queen could retake control of America, the fact is that the United States has been an independent country for 240 years. America adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, ending 442 days of conflict and 169 years of English, Scottish and, later, British control over its territories, where 85 per cent of the white population was of British descent.
Although a reluctant King George III did recognise the Colonies as ‘’free, sovereign and independent states,’’ this concession did not come until 1783 through the Treaty of Paris. The Hanoverian monarch always believed that American independence was a ‘’desperate conspiracy’’ to separate British people in the Colonies from their mother country.
Ever since the British Empire finally lost its 13 Colonies, there have been no serious attempts to retake New England, even during the immediate turbulence that followed the independence. This, according to Spencer Jones, a Historian and Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, was largely due to financial and strategic reasons.
UK Home Office via Flickr CC
‘’The creation of the United States was followed in 1789 by the French Revolution,’’ Dr Jones told Royal Central.
‘’Although the loss of America’s closest ally left the United States vulnerable and seemed to provide an opportunity for reclaiming the colonies, there was no appetite for such an adventure in London.
‘’This was due to the severe financial costs of the first War of Independence and the looming threat of Revolutionary France just across the Channel. The prospect of mounting a major expedition to America when France was threatening invasion of Britain was unrealistic.
‘’So… was a reconquest of America and a refutation of the Declaration of Independence ever likely? I am afraid not and any scenario where this occurred must be considered most improbable.’’
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead (Public Domain)
The answer to this debate could not be clearer when a reply letter was sent out by Buckingham Palace in 2015 to one disillusioned American citizen who wrote to The Queen imploring her to take back the Colonies that Great Britain once dominated.
A Buckingham Palace official wrote: “I have been asked to write in response to your recent letter to The Queen in which you express your views about the American government.
“Whilst your views have been noted, you will appreciate, I am sure, that there can be no question of The Queen intervening in the affairs of another Sovereign state.”
So, unlike 15 countries in the Commonwealth realm, such as Canada and Australia, the United States does not have any association with the British Crown, which Her Majesty heads. Although only two monarchs –The Queen herself and her father King George VI – ever set foot in the US in nearly three centuries, there is nothing to suggest that our monarchy intends to alter the strong Anglo-American relationship that currently exists between the two countries.
