They say that all's fair in love and war. Or they used to, because we know better now. But back in 1781, as the American colonies were fighting the British Empire for their freedom, there were few tactics the ill-equipped Americans wouldn't try. Both sides had occasionally staged a kidnapping of high-profile hostages already. Then word came of the first member of the British royal family setting foot in America. Colonel Matthias Ogden of the Continental Army discovered this through his spies, and wrote to Commander-in-Chief General George Washington, recommending the kidnapping of a British Admiral and a 17-year-old midshipman- who happened the be King George III's third son.
Washington approved the plan for taking the two from the HMS Prince George, and laid out how Prince William Henry was to be treated. They were not to offer "insult or indignity" to the prince nor the admiral, but they could order them around as needed. Circumstances of the war meant that the royal kidnapping was never carried out, but you have to wonder how later relations with the British could have been affected if it had happened. Read the story of the revolutionary kidnapping plan at Mental Floss.
(Image source: Brown University Library)