THE death of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch, has elicited an outpouring of grief among many Americans: From Washington, DC, where US President Joe Biden ordered all flags at US federal and military facilities to fly at half-staff “as a mark of respect”, and Republicans and Democrats in Congress briefly set aside disputes to share their admiration and pass a bereavement resolution, to the far corners of the country, that at one time was a province of the British Empire, where flowers were placed in honour of the queen in public parks and local bars.

That some Americans even flew the Union Jack flag demonstrated a certain historical irony, considering that their country was a former British colony and that their ancestors had fought a bloody revolutionary war against another monarch to win independence from Britain. British forces ransacked the US Capitol during the War of 1812, and London considered supporting the rebellious Confederacy States during the American Civil War.

Yet, historically and culturally, Americans and Brits have still had so much in common in terms of language (English), religion (Protestantism), liberal values (advanced during the English and Scottish Enlightenments), and legal and constitutional systems (Magna Carta), not to mention that the United States was populated and founded by migrants from the British Isles.