Lawrence Berry Washington (107)
A Theoretical Royal Succession
Had his great-granduncle George Washington accepted the position of monarch rather than that of president, Lawrence Berry Washington, would have, following the laws of male preference primogeniture succession, succeeded his father as heir to the throne of the United States. His father John Thornton Augustine Washington would have been the lawful heir apparent to his father, who was the eldest son of Thornton Augustine Washington, who in turn was the eldest son of Samuel Washington, George Washington's eldest full brother. A theoretical "King Lawrence I of the United States" would have had a reign spanning from his father's death in 1841 until his own death in 1856. Following his death, the American crown would have passed to his next eldest brother, Daniel Bedinger Washington (108). National attention was brought to this theoretical American royal succession in 1908 and 1909 by a spate of newspaper articles and again almost a century after his death by a full blown article in Life Magazine [i].
Sources:
[i] Wallace, Robert, February 1951, "If Washington Had Become King: A Carpenter or an Engineer Might Now Rule the U. S.", Life Magazine.
Page modified July 12, 2016.
Sources:
[i] Wallace, Robert, February 1951, "If Washington Had Become King: A Carpenter or an Engineer Might Now Rule the U. S.", Life Magazine.
Page modified July 12, 2016.
Lawrence Berry Washington, continued: Youth and Early Aspirations