The Difference between Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and England

**Mike_Oettle** · 15th February 11, 11:35 AM

Probably the bureaucrats in London were cutting corners and not being as clear as they should have been.
I imagine that British passports have always been valid for the (home) Crown dependencies as well, but the distinctions between them and the UK have been more marked in the past four decades.
Regards,
Mike

**Brian K** · 21st February 11, 08:21 AM

I enjoyed this immensely. It was an entertaining way to flesh out the details of something I understood in the main but was lacking in the some of the details. Thanks, Ron!

Could someone help out a Yank, though? In the video the presenter spoke of British citizens, but I was always taught that the correct term was subjects. I would appreciate a clarification. Some would say it's a question of semantics but, considering the video's explanation of the concept of The Crown, it is, perhaps, an important distinction.

Regards,

Brian

**Mike_Oettle** · 21st February 11, 09:22 AM

Hi, Brian – you are right in recalling the term subject. British citizenship was a new legal creation that came up relatively recently.
Perhaps our British members can tell us more about the change.
I was born a subject of King George VI. Queen Elizabeth was South Africa’s head of state for nine years.
My legal status has always been that of citizenship of South Africa, but I am proud of having also been a subject for the first 11½ years of my life.
Regards,
Mike

**McClef** · 21st February 11, 11:50 AM

The changes from subject to citizen occurred when the British Nationality Act of 1961 came into force in 1983.

More detail can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_subject .

**Brian K** · 21st February 11, 11:57 AM

Thank you, McClef. It is very gratifying to belong to a group where it is possible to learn so much about so many things.

Regards,

Brian

**O'Callaghan** · 5th July 11, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by McClef

The changes from subject to citizen occurred when the British Nationality Act of 1961 came into force in 1983.

More detail can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_subject .

I haven't read the link, but it set out categories of British Citizen either with or without right of abode in the UK, as well as British Dependent Territories Citizen and British Overseas Citizen, as well as abolishing the status of British Subject.

**OC Richard** · 9th July 11, 03:04 AM

American ignorance of all this came to the fore during the (mens) World Cup in South Africa, where US reporters made all sorts of absurd gaffes.

I'll never forget the news segment in which an American reporter wrapped herself in a Union Jack and strode into the England supporters' campground and asked everyone what they felt about Britain's chances.

The England supporters were either too polite, or too taken aback, to point out that Britain had no team in the World Cup.

I heard, over the course of the World Cup, hundreds of references by US reporters to the "British team" and saw t-shirts saying "England World Cup" but having an image of a Union Jack.

**O'Callaghan** · 9th July 11, 05:59 PM

It's very common even in England to see the Union flag together with the word England. Wrong, but common. The red on white cross of St. George is the proper English flag. That said, the Saxons are said to have flown a red flag with a white dragon, and their patron saint was not St. George, but St. Edmund.

OTOH. I was taught in school that the flags of the patron saints are the proper flags for Wales and Scotland too, but that isn't really true. The white on blue saltire of St. Andrew is often used to represent Scotland, but there is also a yellow Scottish flag with a red lion and a red border. Similiarly, the real Welsh flag has a red dragon on a background that has white for the upper half and green for the lower half, and is not the red on white St. David's saltire. You can imagine why England would want to suppress the older flags, though.