# Could the British monarch be a US citizen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-british-monarch-be-a-us-citizen/613277 "2012-02-18T22:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-british-monarch-be-a-us-citizen/613277/61 "2012-09-18T12:58:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Didn’t there use to be a law that said if you were entitled to American citizenship by virtue of being born here, but your parents were not American citizens and you hadn’t resided in the United States since your birth, you had to assert your claim for citizenship by a certain age (I think it was 18) or you were assumed to have renounced it by default? Being born in the United States gave you a window of opportunity to claim American citizenship but that window eventually closed. I don’t think so. The US used to encourage people to make a choice, but if they didn’t, they didn’t. Even so it was only for people who were also citizens of another country and the facts you give don’t automatically state that. The one almost relevant fact I do know is that the woman who served two terms as president (and thereby head of state) of Latvia was forced to give up her Canadian citizenship. It was Latvia that insisted, not Canada. There used to be acts that a US citizen could do that would automatically cause revocation of citizenship–joining a foreign army, becoming an official in a foreign government, but they have lost so many cases from people fighting this that they have essentially stopped automatic revocation. But I think if you join an army fighting the US, they will pursue it. It used to be that just becoming a Canadian citizen–if you were over the age of 18–would also cause revocation, but that has long since ended. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-british-monarch-be-a-us-citizen/613277/62 "2012-09-18T13:53:10Z")
> [@spankthecrumpet](#): > > Mother Theresa was a cunt Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-british-monarch-be-a-us-citizen/613277/63 "2012-09-18T14:21:41Z")
I thought King Ralph pretty much settled this… ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-british-monarch-be-a-us-citizen/613277/64 "2012-09-18T14:28:16Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Source of a day off for school kids and public workers in Illinois. 🙂 > > More seriously and completely: Polish nobleman, served as a general in the Continental Army for the Americans in the Revolutionary War. Due to the large population of Polish-Americans in Chicago, his birthday is a civic holiday in the state. And a submarine ([SSBN 633](http://navysite.de/ssbn/ssbn633.htm) was named after him. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-british-monarch-be-a-us-citizen/613277/65 "2012-09-18T14:36:40Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > No, I mean someone who qualifies for both citizenships simultaneously: American because born in the US (like our hypothetical king, or me) and foreign because of the citizenship of one or both parents (like our hypothetical king, or me). Or, like my sister-in-law, American because of both parents and Irish because of birthplace. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-british-monarch-be-a-us-citizen/613277/66 "2012-09-18T14:39:38Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Wow. What surprises you? Mother Theresa conned millions of people to donate to her organizations thinking she was using the money to provide palliative care to terminally ill poor people when she, using her fucked up idea of suffering is expiative, let them die painful deaths without benefit of true medical care. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-british-monarch-be-a-us-citizen/613277.md?page=3)