The Regal Rules for Girls (48 page)
Please note that the United Kingdom, Great Britain, and England are all different places, and Americans are secretly laughed at if they use the terms incorrectly, so pay close attention to the following:
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
The UK is a “country of countries,” made up of four coequal sovereign countries: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. You can call them all “British” (as their inhabitants all have British passports and are considered British citizens), but the four countries generally don’t like
one another, so to avoid offense, try to be specific and use the terms “English,” “Welsh,” “Scottish,” and “Northern Irish” when referring to a person’s national identity.
Great Britain:
A geographical rather than a political term, “Great Britain” refers to the largest island among the British Isles and contains England, Wales, and Scotland.
England:
The largest and most populated country in the UK, containing its capital city, London.
Ireland:
Again this is a geographical rather than a political term. The island of Ireland contains two countries: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Note that people from the Republic of Ireland are Irish (
not
Northern Irish).
European Union:
Both the UK and the Republic of Ireland are members of the European Union, but the UK does not use the Euro as its currency.
As you know, the Queen’s face appears on money all over the world. Indeed, at the peak of its power, it was often said that “the sun never sets on the British Empire” because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories. Read on to understand the difference between the Empire and the Commonwealth and how the UK fits into it all.
The
British Empire
consists of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or
administered by the United Kingdom. By 1922, the British Empire held sway over nearly
one-quarter of the world’s population
and covered almost a
quarter of the Earth’s total land area
! However, after World War II, many countries sought their independence from the British Empire, and over the next twenty years, British rule ended in many parts of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific.
The
Commonwealth
(warning: this is where it gets complicated) is a voluntary association of fifty-three independent countries, many of which were former British colonies. Most countries gained their independence from the Empire through diplomacy and opted to join the Commonwealth. Commonwealth countries can have different constitutions: a republic with a president as head of state (such as India and South Africa), an indigenous monarchy (such as Lesotho and Tonga), a sultanate (Brunei), or a realm recognizing the Queen as sovereign (such as Canada and Australia). Whichever form their constitution takes, all member countries recognize Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth.
A
Commonwealth Realm
is a country that has HM Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. There are fifteen Commonwealth realms in addition to the UK: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Papua New Guinea, St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuvalu, Barbados, Grenada, the Solomon Islands, St. Lucia, and the Bahamas.
British Overseas Territories (formerly known as Crown Colonies)
are the fourteen territories outside the British Isles over
which Britain retains legal sovereignty. These include: Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Antarctic Territory, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Cayman Islands, the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia on Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, the Pitcairn Islands, St. Helena and its dependencies (Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The
Crown Dependencies
are the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (Baliwick of Jersey and Baliwick of Guernsey). They are technically not part of the United Kingdom but are still dependent territories of the English Crown. This means that although they have their own administration, the UK government still handles certain areas of policy.