It's sometimes believed embassies and the land they sit on are part of the sovereign territory they represent. This is not quite true. Despite not being subject to the host's laws, the embassy remains part of the host country. However, in England there is an acre of land that is considered part of the USA.
- Tea bags, ketchup – and football's most famous song? The 'British' inventions that are actually American
- Inventions the Americans thought they invented... but didn't – including baseball and their famous national anthem Star-Spangled Banner
You can find it at Runnymede in Surrey, next to the River Thames. At its heart is a seven-tonne block of Portland Stone set as a memorial to honour President John F Kennedy. Queen Elizabeth II opened the memorial in 1965, two years after JFK's assassination, and gifted the land to the US in recognition of the close relationship between Britain and America. The memorial is inscribed with elements of JFK's inaugural speech and is reached by climbing 50 steps, which represent the states of the US.
But you don’t need a passport to enter – just money for the car park (if you’re driving) as the memorial sits within the National Trust’s Runnymede and Ankerwycke site. The National Trust maintains the American acre on behalf of the Kennedy Memorial Trust, which also funds scholarships to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The location of the memorial is symbolic as it is close to the spot where in 1215 King John of England signed the Magna Carta – 'the Great Charter' that put a limit on the King's power. The Magna Carta is seen as an important step in the evolution of democracy and the rule of law, a formative influence in the American Bill of Rights and a strong link to JFK's own powerful advocacy for human rights.
The Magna Carta's impact
However, it would be stretching things to say that the Magna Carta of 1215 was a great beacon of democracy and egalitarianism as is sometimes mistakenly claimed. It was forced on John by a group of powerful barons who sought to limit the King's power and bolster that of their own and that of the Church.
Previously, monarchs used their position to do pretty much as they pleased but King John's hold on power had been critically weakened by defeats and loss of land in France. So, to his chagrin, King John found he had to negotiate with his mightiest subjects rather than dictate to them.
Significantly, the Magna Carta aimed to enshrine the idea that kings and governments were not above the law and that people had rights, such as access to justice and a fair trial. The initial Magna Carter was reinforced by several more 'Great Charters' in the 13th century and it took on ever-greater significance in medieval law whenever there were struggles between the monarch and his subjects.
Of course, it did not forever limit a monarch's ability to rule unfairly and arbitrarily (I'm talking about Henry VIII) but it gave subjects a legal framework to defend themselves and would eventually be a rallying point for democracy and a foundation stone for common rights in many countries.
Discover more UK history
- How historically accurate is The Gilded Age? Did Britain’s aristocracy go to America to find wives?
- Armoured plating, 23K gold and secret wartime journeys – amazing facts about the Royal Train
- How many palaces are there in the UK?
- From exploding corpses to fatal feasts, which English monarch had the most gruesome death?
- Plague, pox and pain: The deadliest medieval diseases that changed history forever
Top image: The Kennedy Memorial, Runnymede, Surrey. Credit: National Trust Images/John Millar
