Are there Americans in the British Crown’s line of succession?

The world mourns the passing of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II, bringing to an end her historic 70-year reign. Her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, has inherited the crown, and so begins the reign of King Charles III. 

As the U.K. weeps for its Queen, those of us outside His Majesty’s jurisdiction naturally are curious about the lines of succession and how it all works. Truth be told, here in the United States, we secretly cross our fingers that somehow, someway, our names are on that kingly list. All fantasies of a majestic lifestyle of riches, fame, and royalty aside, it does beg the question: could an American potentially sit on the U.K. throne?

The simple answer: sort of, and the hopes and dreams of the Royal Family’s stateside fanbase rest on the shoulders of a toddler.

Fifth in line for Britain’s crown is Prince Harry, who famously wed American actress Meghan Markle in 2018. She was born in Los Angeles, California, making her a U.S. citizen. In 2019, she and Harry welcomed their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor (imagine spelling that in kindergarten), who could possibly inherit a title of his own now that Charles is in charge. Although he was born in London, Meghan’s U.S. citizenship qualifies little Archie as an American, making him a dual citizen of both the U.K. and the U.S. — that is, if the royal power couple reported his birth to the American consulate, and it’s not clear if they did so. Then again, they moved to L.A. two years ago. Unless Harry and Meghan decide to move the family back across the pond, Archie — number six in the line of succession — will be raised in the United States.

Archie may be the closest any American citizen has come to being the heir to the throne, but he’s not the first in the lordship line to live stateside. Although there isn’t much current news on the topic as of late, the book The Royal 100, published in 1986, documented five heirs to the crown who lived in the U.S. 

Perhaps the most interesting claim belongs to a Colorado’s Colorado’s Allan Verno Evans. Five years ago, he took out an ad in The Times of London, claiming that he is the rightful heir to the King of Wales. He claims he can trace his heritage back to the last king of Wales, John Evans, Sr. of Aberffraw Parish, Anglesey.

In 2017, Evans had said that he would be polite enough to wait until after the Queen had died before seizing power from Charles, which was awfully nice of the guy. For some reason, I picture Evans marching into Buckingham Palace dressed as John Goodman from “King Ralph.”