The Principality of Sealand
The Principality of Sealand
- An independent nation near the United Kingdom
At the time of World War II, one of the towers to defend the United Kingdom was built in the international waters of the North Sea, this tower, called Fort Roughs Tower, was abandoned in the 1950s, being in international waters it was not demolished at the end of the war and for this reason, in the early 60's, the British army commander Roy Bates, created a radio station, called Radio Essex, in the old Fort Knock John (Eveleth, 2015). Some time later, in the 1960s, Roy Bates, due to problems of jurisdiction with the United Kingdom, changed his station to the Roughs Tower, since it was beyond the limits of three nautical miles, creating the Principality of Sealand in 1967 with his wife, Princess Joan and their children Michael and Penelope (Sealand, nd).
The British government did not like the existence of Sealand at first, they sent a crew with explosives to destroy the other forts, the Bates family observed for several days the debris left by this act, then the crew arrived in Sealand with threats and the Prince Roy Bates had to escape.
In 1968, when Prince Roy Bates was a British citizen, a subpoena was issued under the firearms law of the United Kingdom, but the judge concluded that British courts do not have jurisdiction over the Principality of Sealand.Regretfully, Prince Roy Bates passes away in 2012 and Prince Michael takes his place as ruler of Sealand (Perpetual Tourist, 2016). Sealand, like several nations, has an official athlete, a football team, a Pitch & Put team and a souvenir shop.
*Thanks a lot to the Principality of Sealand for giving the authorization to make this article possible.*
In 1968, when Prince Roy Bates was a British citizen, a subpoena was issued under the firearms law of the United Kingdom, but the judge concluded that British courts do not have jurisdiction over the Principality of Sealand.Regretfully, Prince Roy Bates passes away in 2012 and Prince Michael takes his place as ruler of Sealand (Perpetual Tourist, 2016). Sealand, like several nations, has an official athlete, a football team, a Pitch & Put team and a souvenir shop.
*Thanks a lot to the Principality of Sealand for giving the authorization to make this article possible.*
Sealand from a helicopter.
Ryan Lackey [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
Ryan Lackey [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
References:
Eveleth, R. (2015). “Sealand: la micronación en una torre en medio del océano”. En BBC. Recuperado de https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2015/05/150427_vert_fut_gobierno_micro_nacion_sealand_yv
Perpetuo Turista. (2016). La asombrosa historia del principado de Sealand. Recuperado de https://perpetuoturista.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/la-asombrosa-historia-del-principado-de-sealand/
How to cite this article:
Nocetti, F.A. (2019). "The Principality of Sealand". In NabbuBlog. Retrieved from http://nabbublog.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-principality-of-sealand.html