The Gist
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Prince William will make history when he eventually becomes king.
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According to a royal author, the Prince of Wales will become the first British monarch to have American ancestry.
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His American connection comes through his late mother, Princess Diana.
Prince William will make history when he assumes the throne.
Prince William on June 3, 2026, in London.Credit: Getty Images
According to Stephanie Green, author of American Crown: From Revolutionaries to Royalty: The Story of Prince William’s American Heritage, the Prince of Wales would become the first British monarch to have American ancestry.
His American connection comes through his late mother, Princess Diana, whose maternal great-grandmother was Frances “Fanny” Burke Roche, a New York-born socialite.
“She was one of the most celebrated beauties of the Gilded Age,” Green told Marie Claire on September 1. “She was born in New York in 1857, and I don’t know if you watch the show The Gilded Age, but she is right out of that show.”
After combing through Roche’s diaries, Green noted several similarities between her and Diana.
Princess Diana, Prince William, and Prince Harry in September 1995.Credit: Getty Images
“Diana, as you know, suffered from bulimia, from depression,” Green said. “So did Fanny. She’s writing in her diary and she’s covering every little margin of the diary page with just spilling her guts out about how unhappy she is, how trapped she is in these marriages that didn’t work out, how trapped she is by her father.”
Green continued, “So as I say in the book, despite all of their beauty, their clothes, their fabulous homes, their jewelry, these two women are just proof that you can be miserable and still have all of these things.”
The American Crown author also nodded to another American in the royal family, Meghan Markle, adding that there’s an “irony in having a King with all of this American blood, but having a brother whose wife is American who’s going back and forth across the pond.”
Prince William and Prince Harry in Windsor, England, on September 10, 2022.Credit: Getty Images
Meghan, Prince Harry, and their two children—Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet—have famously returned to the U.K. after spending several years in America. The family landed in Birmingham on August 26 and will remain in England for an extended period.
As for William’s American lineage, Green hopes that he will eventually become an honorary U.S. citizen.
“My hope is that someday Prince William will receive honorary American citizenship like Winston Churchill did,” Green said. “I just think it’s a wonderful twist of history and I think it shows that families and countries are much closer than we think—and that story is still unfolding.”
Read the original article on InStyle