July 2, 2026
America 250: The Americans Who Stayed Loyal to the King
Not every American joined the Revolution. Hundreds of thousands remained loyal to King George the Third. From William Franklin, the son of Benjamin Franklin, to royal governors, merchants and ordinary citizens, this episode examines the Americans who chose the Crown over independence and what their stories reveal about the monarchy’s view of the Revolution.
Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.
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Calarogu Shark Media. Hello and welcome through Pallace Intrigue. I
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am your host, Mark Francis. Two hundred and fifty years ago,
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Britain was about to lose an empire. As America celebrates
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its milestone anniversary. Palace Intrigue explores the Revolution from the
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perspective of those who watched it unfold from London, King
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George the Third, the Royal Court, Parliament, and millions of
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Britain trained to make sense of events across the Atlantic
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day by day on our afternoon episodes this week will
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examine what they knew, what they misunderstood, and how the
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loss of America transformed the monarchy forever. On the morning
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of July third, seventeen seventy six, George the Third was
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king of all thirteen American colonies. That statement sounds obvious,
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It is also remarkably easy to forget. The following day,
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a group of delegates meeting in Philadelphia would declare that
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this was no longer true. What is often forgotten is
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thathundreds of thousands of Americans disagreed with them. The American
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Revolution is frequently remembered as a united colonial uprising against
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a distant monarch. From the perspective of Saint James Pallace,
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the reality looked very different. The colonies were divided, families argued,
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communities split apart. Men who had once agreed on almost
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everything suddenly found themselves on opposite sides of the most
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important political question of their age. And nowhere was that
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division more painful than within the family of Benjamin Franklin. Today,
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Franklin occupies a place in American history that is almost
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impossible to overstate. Inventor, diplomat, statesmen, and founding father. He
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became one of the central figures of the Revolution. His
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son chose a different path. William Franklin remained loyal to
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George the Third as Royal Governor of New Jersey. William
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had built a successful career within the imperial system. Unlike
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many royal officials, he was not British by birth. He
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was American. He had grown up in the colonies. His future,
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he believed, was tied to the British Empire. As tensions escalated,
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father and son drifted further apart. Benjamin moved steadily toward independence,
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William remained committed to the crown. Eventually, the break became permanent.
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In seventeen seventy six, revolutionary authorities arrested William Franklin and
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imprisoned him for a time. He was held under harsh conditions.
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The war eventually ended his political career in America and
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destroyed his relationship with his father. Years later, Benjamin Franklin wrote,
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nothing has ever affected me with so keen a sensation
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as to find myself deserted in my old age by
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my only son. It is one of the most heartbreaking
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lines to emerge from the revolution. It is also a
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reminder that this was not simply a war between Britain
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and America. It was a war between Americans. One reason
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the king remained convinced for so long that the rebellion
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could be defeated was that he knew men like William
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Franklin existed. Every report arriving from North America reminded him
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that the colonies were not speaking with one voice. Loyalist
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communities remained scattered throughout the Continentroyal governors continued to support
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the Crown. Merchants, lawyers, clergy, and farmers still considered themselves
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faithful subjects. To George. This was evidence that America had
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not rejected him. America was arguing with itself. Another loyal
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American whose story would have resonated deeply with the king
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was Thomas Hutchinson, the last royal governor of Massachusetts. Like
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William Franklin, Hutchinson was not an outsider as sent from London.
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He was a massachusetts man through and through His family
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had lived in New England for generations. He attended Harvard,
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He built a successful career in Boston. He understood America
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because America was his home. Yet he remained loyal to
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the Crown. That loyalty came at a tremendous cost. In
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seventeen sixty five, long before independence was declared, an angry
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mob attacked Hutchinson's Boston home. The destruction was extraordinary. Furniture
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was smashed, personal belongings were stolen, years of papers and
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records were scattered or destroyed. John Adams, no friend of Hutchinson, politically,
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later described it as one of the most disgraceful episodes
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of the period. Hutcheson never fully recovered from the experience.
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Eventually he departed for Britain, but he spent the remainder
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of his life from exile. He wrote words that still
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resonate nearly two hundred and fifty years later, I am
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in exile from my native country, not Britain, America more
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in just a moment. As the war progressed, Saint James
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Pallace became a destination not only for military reports and
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government dispatches, but also for appeals from loyal subjects whose
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lives had been disrupted by the conflict. Governors, judges, merchants,
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and military officers wrote to London describing conditions on the ground.
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Their letters paying a picture far more complicated than the
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story Americans would later tell about a united march toward independence.
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One of the most influential loyalist voices was Joseph Galloway
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of Pennsylvania. Galloway had attended the First Continental Congress. He
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was hardly an obscure figure, standing at the fringes of events.
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In fact, he spent much of the early crisis searching
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for a compromise that might keep the colonies within the
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Empire while granting them greater autonomy. Looking back, his proposals
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can seem remarkably modern. What Galloway wanted was not unlike
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the arrangements that would eventually emerge elsewhere in the Empire.
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Generations later, the difficulty was at either side was prepared
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to meet in the middle. His plan failed, the revolution
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moved forward, and Galloway eventually found himself living in Britain
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rather than Pennsylvania. Reflecting on the conflict, he argued that
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the measures of the Congress have alienated the affections of
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many thousands. The statement reveals how loyalists viewed the situation.
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They did not believe the revolution spoke for all Americans.
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They believed a vocal and determined movement had carried the
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colonies in the direction many never wanted to go. Whether
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they were right or Romans, and was beside the point.
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What matters is that George the third believed them. The
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King was not receiving reports from a continent united in rebellion.
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He was receiving reports from a continent divided by politics
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loyalty in war. That helps explain why the declaration of
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Independence did not produce immediate despair at the Palace. If
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substantial numbers of Americans remained loyal, then surely the rebellion
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could still be defeated. If governors remained faithful, then surely
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British authority could still be restored. If communities continued to
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support the crown, then surely independence was not inevitable. History
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would eventually prove otherwise. As the war turned against Britain,
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the position of loyalists became increasingly precarious. Many faced intimidation,
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Others lost property, some sort of businesses collapse. By the
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final years of the conflict, thousands had concluded that remaining
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in the newly independent United States was no longer possible.
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The migration that followed became one of the largest population
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movements in North American history. Entire families left. Many traveled
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north onto Canada, Others crossed the Atlantic. Some arrived in
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Britain carrying little more than documents describing what they had lost.
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The Crown now faced a new responsibility. These people had
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remained loyal. Many believed they had sacrificed homes, careers, and
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fortunes because they try to the King and the British government.
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What would happen to them now? The answer came in
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the form of the Loyalist Claims Commission. Created after the war.
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The commission heard thousands of claims from displaced loyalists seeking
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compensation for losses suffered during the revolution. The records survived
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to this day and offer an extraordinary window into the
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human cost of the conflict. A merchant from New York
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describing confiscated goods, a widow attempting to recover property, a
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former official documenting the destruction of a life's work. Together
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they formed something remarkable. If the Declaration of Independence is
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one archive of the revolution, these files are another. One
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records the people who built a new nation. The other
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records the people who wanted to remain subjects of the king.
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The revolution produced heroes and founders whose names would be
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remembered for centuries, and also produced exiles, divided families, and
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communities forced to make impossible choices. For every Benjamin Franklin,
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there was a William Franklin, and for George the Third.
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Those men and women from I mean proof that even
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at the moment America broke away, a significant part of
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America that chosen to stay loyal to the king, and
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they have it. If you'd like to email us of
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addresses the palaceintrig at gmail dot com, Please follow us
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on Spotify, Apple and leave a comment on Spotify Today's Shows.
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I'm Mark Francis my thanks to John McDermott. This is
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