Prince William’s Surprising American Role Model — and How It Has Quietly Shaped His Future as King
Royal expert revealed one prominent American family has left a lasting impression on William and even helped shape one of his most ambitious projects.
The British Royal Family has long captivated audiences far beyond the United Kingdom, with their influence and appeal stretching across continents. But what happens when a future king looks outside royal circles for inspiration? According to a royal expert, one prominent American family has left a lasting impression on Prince William and even helped shape one of his most ambitious projects. So, which American figure is the royal author talking about?
Although the US has no monarchy, there are a few families who are quite influential in the State. Talking about the same, royal author Caroline Hallemann, in an interview with Town & Country, revealed that there is a royal-ish family in the US who have a similar grip over the US as the royals have in the UK. “William had always emphasized that the Kennedy Moonshot—President John F. Kennedy’s bold statement that we would send a man to the moon and bring him safely back home within a decade—had inspired him to launch Earthshot,” Hallemann shared during the interview.
Hallemann, in her upcoming book, The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made, aims to lay out the very similarities between the two families and how they draw parallels from one another. Elaborating more on how John F. Kennedy influenced William, the author added, "Prince William brought the Earthshot Prize, his big global environmental initiative, to Boston in its second year." She continued, “This visit to Boston really emphasized those ties."
Hallemann shared that during William and Princess Kate’s visit to Boston, the prince “met with Caroline Kennedy multiple times on the trip; he toured the JFK Library and Museum alongside her and two of her children.” As per her, it was “an interesting almost reversal of the oft-repeated statement that the Kennedys are the closest thing America has to a royal family.” William even acknowledged Kennedy’s impact and influence beyond his presidency, with Hallemann noting, “This was a British royal using the Kennedy iconography and language and legacy to help shape the narrative about a project that was important to him.”
While the two families share clear similarities, a fundamental difference remains between true royalty and an American cultural dynasty. “While the royals have an official codified position in society, the Kennedys don’t,” Hallemann explained. “Hollywood’s interest in the [Kennedy] family has played a key role in keeping them top of mind in American culture for so long. But the interest is understandable.” She added how the Kennedy family's story has drama and tragedy much like fairytales. “There’s also romance, infidelity, ambition, glamour, success, power and duty. It’s all very cinematic," concluded the author.
