From 1775 to 1783, rebellious American colonists waged a war against their oppressors, the British monarchy, but on Oct. 1, 2026 at Mount Vernon Estate, it was friendly bonhomie all around.
Mount Vernon hosted British royalty, His Royal Highness Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, and celebrated their close connections at the historic home of General George Washington, who led the colonial upstarts to victory over the British tyrants in the American Revolutionary War.
Prince Edward, 62, is the youngest brother of King Charles III and the youngest offspring of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, sixteenth line to the throne. He visited Mount Vernon in 2001, then as the Earl of Essex. In Mount Vernon’s presidential library, the Duke studied his parents’ signatures in a guest book penned in 1951 and 1991.
Generations of the royal family have visited Mount Vernon, including King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939; Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1951 and 1991; and King Charles III, then Prince of Wales with Princess Anne in 1970; and Charles again in 2015 with Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall.
“As we commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, this visit offered an opportunity to reflect on how our nations moved from Revolutionary War adversaries to trusted allies, as well as the history and friendship at the heart of the special relationship between the United States and Britain,” said Douglas Bradburn, Mount Vernon’s Chief Executive Officer.
The public tour started in the Education Center where Bradburn reviewed Washington as a surveyor, farmer, Army war general and first U.S. president. He lauded Washington’s humility in resigning his military commission after the war, return to private life and refusal to be a king.
The estate’s connections with Great Britain linger still. At the 1775 Revolutionary War Continental Army re-enacted encampment, two lines of canvas tents where six enlisted men slept crammed into each tent, interpreters displayed a British manual of military exercises of Washington’s day. Initially, with a ragtag army, Washington based his leadership and strategy on his experience in the British army during the French and Indian War, Lucy Dale, an interpreter, said. Also, “It’s good to know what your enemy is thinking,” she added.
The entourage did not sample a Continental soldier’s food staple, a rock hard biscuit called “hard bread,” “ash cake” or “worm castle.” This combination of flour and water was cooked over the fire for five to eight hours to eliminate all moisture and then for eating, soaked or stuffed into one’s cheek to soften it up, Dale said.
The Duke discussed weaponry with a soldier-reenactor named Daniel, but eschewed the nearby laundry activities with docents washing clothes in an iron kettle over a fire. But Silas Harbow, an enthusiastic young visitor, delighted in wringing out a wet garment. “No one gets excited about laundry, but you just did,” a docent enthused. “You just did a historical re-enactment.”
Bradburn pointed out another British connection in the Washington library, an 18th century, British-made map of New York island, displayed in the Brits’ military headquarters there during the war. And to grins all around Bradburn quipped, “Somehow the U.S. Capitol caught fire in 1814.” During the War of 1812, British troops burned the capitol building down to a shell with torches and gunpowder paste.
At the Washingtons’ tomb, Bradburn noted that at age 19 the Prince of Wales, Prince Albert, who later become King Edward VII, laid a wreath in 1860. Prince Edward laid a flowery wreath and Bradburn again touted the two countries’ “great relationship” and “shared values.” Bradburn mentioned, but they did not visit, the nearby burial ground of the African Americans that the Washingtons enslaved on the plantation.
A Royal Toast
The public part of the visit ended with whiskies produced today in Mount Vernon’s reconstructed distillery using George Washington's recipes. “In 1799, Washington had the largest distillery in the U.S.,” Bradburn said, largely making rye whiskey. This year, the distillery produced a special bourbon for the country’s 250th anniversary.
“It’s really good,” Bradburn bragged.
The entourage did not partake of high tea, but the Duke sniffed a shot of Washington’s whiskey and took a quick, royal sip, an act of “soft power,” Bradburn said.