US CONNECTIONS

Worcestershire’s rolling Malvern hills, ancient properties and secure radio network stood ready to protect the British royal family during the darkest hours of World War II. The armour-plated railway carriage, built for George VI, is stationed at Highley on the Severn Valley Railway; it was here, in the private sitting room, that General Eisenhower and Winston Churchill revealed their D-Day plans to the King.

The county of Worcestershire has a long history of religious in uence and independence. Never more than during the English Civil War (1642-51), when Royalist forces, loyal to Charles I, occupied this rebellious county. Worcester Cathedral is a must-see attraction, as is Gad eld Elm - the oldest Mormon church in the world. The county is also birthplace of May ower Pilgrim Edward Winslow - three times governor of Plymouth, Mass.

Home of the Battle of Worcester, was a battle that changed the social, political and historical landscape of England, forever and the first and final battle in the English Civil War (1642-51), Worcestershire sparked the curiosity of Thomas Jefferson who visited Fort Royal Hill to see the site where English democracy was born. Following the Battle of Worcester, 272 Scottish Royalist soldiers were exiled to the Massachusetts Bay Colony; thousands of their descendants now live in the United States. Nearby Droitwich Spa is the birthplace of Mayflower Pilgrim Edward Winslow, who three times became governor of Plymouth Mass.

The English Civil Wars had a major impact on governance in this country, of course, but the ramifications were not just felt on English soil.

So important was the outcome of the Battle of Worcester, that two of the founding fathers of the United States of America, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, came to Worcester in 1786 to see the battlefield for themselves.

‘Do Englishmen so soon forget the Ground where Liberty was fought for? All England should come in Pilgrimage to this hill once a year’ - John Adams, 178

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had together written the Declaration of Independence ten years earlier, and less than two years after their visit to Worcester they would help draft the US Constitution. Both of these notable American visitors went on to be Presidents of the United States:- Adams the second, and Jefferson the third.

The Commandery and Fort Royal Hill can both be visited on a trip to Worcestershire.