You read that headline correctly: the late Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Northern Ireland once thanked the U.S. for kicking Britain’s ass, using slightly different words.
The Queen’s comments were part of a speech given on July 6, 1976, during the presentation of the Bicentennial Bell to the people of the U.S. In her opening, The Queen noted that she was speaking as a direct descendant of King George III, “the last Crowned Sovereign to rule” over the U.S., as shared in full on Wikipedia.
“It seems to me that Independence Day, the Fourth of July, should be celebrated as much in Britain as in America. Not in rejoicing at the separation of the American Colonies from the British Crown, but in sincere gratitude to the Founding Fathers of this great Republic for having taught Britain a very valuable lesson,” The Queen continued, addressing the American people on the 200th anniversary of the nation’s independence from Britain.
“Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, is dead. Long-live the King.” https://t.co/UUkb79maED
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 8, 2022
The speech was given in Independence National Historical Park’s Visitor Center, according to the National Park Service. “We lost the American Colonies because we lacked that statesmanship ‘to know the right time, and the manner of yielding, what is impossible to keep,'” she continued. “We learnt to respect the right of others to govern themselves in their own ways. This was the outcome of experience learned the hard way in 1776.” (RELATED: The Queen’s Bizarre Dietary Habit She’s Kept Since Childhood)
The Queen went on to note that without the war of 1776, the British people could never have turned their Empire into a Commonwealth, over which the royal family still rules. The new head of the commonwealth is presumed to be King Charles, who succeeded Queen Elizabeth on September 8th after she died aged 96-years-old.