The Pilgrims Society, founded on 16 July 1902 by Sir Harry Brittain KBE CMG, is a British-American society established, in the words of American diplomat Joseph Choate, 'to promote good-will, good-fellowship, and everlasting peace between the United States and Great Britain'. It is not to be confused with the Pilgrim Society of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Membership Over the years it has boasted an elite membership of politicians, diplomats, businessmen, and writers who have included Henry Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher, Caspar Weinberger, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Henry Luce, Lord Carrington, Alexander Haig, Paul Volcker, Thomas Kean, George Shultz, and Walter Cronkite among many others. Members of the immediate Royal Family, United States secretaries of state and United States ambassadors to the Court of St. James's are customarily admitted ex officio to membership in the Society. Activities The Society is notable for holding dinners to welcome into office each successive U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The patron of the society is King Charles III. Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a speech to the Society on March 18, 1941. History The first informal meeting of the Pilgrims of Great Britain included General Joseph Wheeler, Colonel (later General Sir) Bryan Mahon, the Hon Charles Rolls and Harry Brittain. The first meeting of the Pilgrims of the United States was at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York on 13 January 1903. The Pilgrims of Great Britain and the Pilgrims of the United States have reciprocal membership. Executive Committee members, as of 2020, are: Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Lord Stirrup KG GCB AFC (President) Mrs Diane Simpson (Chairman) Sir Stephen Wright KCMG (Honorary Secretary) Mr Richard Reid (Honorary Treasurer) Mr Abdul Bhanji Sir Peter Bottomley MP Mr Peter Cadbury Professor Stephen J. Challacombe Mr Piers Coleman Mr Paul Dimond CMG Mr Tristan Elbrick Mrs Kweilen Hatleskog Mrs Valerie Humphrey Ms Yael Lempert, Deputy Chief of Mission, American Embassy, London Sir David Newbigging OBE Sir Bryan Nicholson GBE Mr Mark Seligman Air Marshal Sir David Walker KCVO OBE Ms Xenia Wickett Admiral Sir George Michael Zambellas, GCB, DSC, ADC, DL, FRAeS Mrs Amy Thompson is the Executive Secretary, successor to Mrs Tessa Wells Notable members Queen Elizabeth II King Charles III Senator Nelson W. Aldrich Ambassador Winthrop W. Aldrich Philanthropist John Nicholas Brown II Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler NATO Secretary General Lord Carrington Ambassador John W. Davis Vice President Charles G. Dawes Admiral