By Dr Arianne Chernock, PhD, Professor of History, Boston University — The Conversation, 1 June 2022
Starting on 2 June 2022, British subjects are participating in street parties and other events marking the 70 years that Queen Elizabeth II has remained on the throne — but they won’t be alone in expressing affection for the Queen. In America, Elizabeth retains approval ratings that would leave most political leaders envious; a February 2022 poll found that 61% of Americans held a favourable view of Queen Elizabeth — the highest rating of any living member of the British royal family.
It might seem strange, given the nation’s decision to sever ties with George III in 1776, but British royals have been eliciting similar responses on American shores for the past 150 years. In 1860, Prince Albert Edward — the future King Edward VII — was mobbed by fans during a surprisingly successful American tour. In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth made headlines when they ate their first hot dogs at Hyde Park, New York. And then there was the frenzy surrounding Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s visit to Washington in 1985, when Diana danced with actor John Travolta at The White House. There’s an element of pragmatism in the tradition of warm American receptions too: after the American Revolution, the newly independent nation realised it would need to maintain strong ties with the imperial motherland for diplomatic and security reasons. And the revolutionaries themselves felt an intense and personal relationship with George III, whom they regarded as distinct from the British Parliament. In 2018 American actress Meghan Markle went one step further by marrying into the British royal family. This article has been republished under Creative Commons licence.