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Updated October 2024
Posted December 2023

BRITISH CHRISTMAS

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United Kingdom Christmas Tree
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United Kingdom Christmas Ornaments

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United Kingdom Christmas Ornaments

United Kingdom Christmas Ornaments

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Ronald Reagan Windsor Castle
June 7, 1982
President Reagan and Nancy Reagan stand at attention with Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.

United Kingdom

WIKIPEDIAThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
BritainA country in Northwestern Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of the smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is 93,628 square miles, with an estimated 2022 population of nearly 67 million people.

The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 resulted in their unification to become the Kingdom of Great Britain. Its union in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which formally adopted its name in 1927. The nearby Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown Dependencies, but the British government is responsible for their defence and international representation.

United KingdomCountries within a Country
Although the United Kingdom is a sovereign country, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are also widely referred to as countries. The UK Prime Minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom.

  • The term "Great Britain" conventionally refers to the island of Great Britain, or politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination. It is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole. The word England is occasionally used incorrectly to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole, a mistake principally made by people from outside the UK.
  • The term "Britain" is used as a synonym for Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. Usage is mixed: the UK Government prefers to use the term "UK" rather than "Britain" or "British" on its website (except when referring to embassies).

The UK has 4 Countries

  • The UK has 4 Countries with 84% of the population in England
    • England 56,489,800. Local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to local arrangements. Greater London, has had a directly elected assembly and mayor since 2000.
    • Scotland 5,436,600. Since 1999, Scotland has had a devolved national government and legislature called the Scottish Parliament.
    • Wales 3,267,501. Since 1999, Wales has a devolved national government and legislature, known as the Senedd.
    • Northern Ireland 1,903,100. Since 1998, Northern Ireland has a devolved government, the Executive, and legislature, the Assembly.

  • The United Kingdom, the 14 British Overseas Territories and the three Crown Dependencies form 'one undivided Realm'. All parts of the realm are under the sovereignty of the British Crown, but the Territories and Dependencies are not part of the UK.
    • The 14 British Overseas Territories are remnants of the British Empire: Anguilla; Bermuda; the British Antarctic Territory; the British Indian Ocean Territory; the British Virgin Islands; the Cayman Islands; the Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; the Turks and Caicos Islands; the Pitcairn Islands; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and Akrotiri and Dhekelia on the island of Cyprus. British claims in Antarctica have limited international recognition. Collectively Britain's overseas territories encompass an approximate land area of 480,000 square nautical miles with a total population of approximately 250,000. The overseas territories also give the UK the world's fifth largest exclusive economic zone at 2,627,651 sq miles.
    • The Crown Dependencies are possessions of the Crown, as opposed to territories of the UK. They comprise three independently administered jurisdictions: the Bailiwicks of Jersey and of Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. By mutual agreement, the British Government manages the islands' foreign affairs and defense and the UK Parliament has the authority to legislate on their behalf. Internationally, they are regarded as "territories for which the United Kingdom is responsible".

UK Dependencies

  • The UK became the first industrialized country and was the world's foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the "Pax Britannica" between 1815 and 1914.
  • The British Empire, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the largest empire in history; however, its involvement in the First World War and the Second World War damaged Britain's economic power and a global wave of decolonization led to the independence of most British colonies.
  • British influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of its former colonies, and the UK's culture remains globally influential, particularly in literature, music and sport.
  • The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy.
  • The capital and largest city of the United Kingdom (as well as the capital of England) is London. The cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast are respectively the national capitals of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Other major cities include Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, and Leeds.
  • The UK consists of three distinct legal jurisdictions: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. This is due to these areas retaining their existing legal systems even after joining the UK. Since 1998, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland also have their own devolved governments and legislatures, each with varying powers.
  • The UK has the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and the ninth-largest by purchasing power parity.
  • It is a recognized nuclear state and is ranked fourth globally in military expenditure.
  • The UK has been a permanent member of the UN Security Council since its first session in 1946. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the OECD, NATO, the Five Eyes, AUKUS and the CPTPP.
  • Stonehenge in Wiltshire is a ring of stones, each about 13 feet high, 7 feet wide and 25 tonnes, erected 2400–2200 BC.
  • Most of the United Kingdom has a temperate climate, with generally cool temperatures and plentiful rainfall all year round. The temperature varies with the seasons seldom dropping below 32 F or rising above 86 F.
  • His Majesty's Armed Forces consist of three professional service branches: the Royal Navy and Royal Marines (forming the Naval Service), the British Army and the Royal Air Force.
  • The UK has a partially regulated market economy. Based on market exchange rates, the UK is the sixth-largest economy in the world and the second-largest in Europe by nominal GDP. The United Kingdom uses the pound sterling, currently the fourth most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market and the world's fourth-largest reserve currency (after the United States dollar, euro, and yen). The service sector made up around 80% of the UK's GVA in 2021. As of 2022, the UK is the world's second-largest exporter of services. London is one of the world's largest financial centers, ranking second in the world in the Global Financial Centers Index in 2022. London also has the largest city GDP in Europe.
  • The automotive industry employs around 800,000 people. In 2022, the UK produced around 775,000 passenger vehicles and 101,600 commercial vehicles, including luxury cars such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Range Rover.
  • The United Kingdom has among the highest levels of income inequality in Europe and the OECD, and is one of the most regionally unequal high-income countries in the world.
  • England and Scotland were leading centers of the Scientific Revolution from the 17th century. The United Kingdom led the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century, and has continued to produce scientists and engineers credited with important advances. Major theorists from the 17th and 18th centuries include Isaac Newton, whose laws of motion and illumination of gravity have been seen as a keystone of modern science; from the 19th century Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution by natural selection was fundamental to the development of modern biology, and James Clerk Maxwell, who formulated classical electromagnetic theory; and more recently Stephen Hawking, who advanced major theories in the fields of cosmology, quantum gravity and the investigation of black holes.
  • London Heathrow Airport, located 15 miles (24 km) west of the capital, is the world's second busiest airport by international passenger traffic and has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the world; it is the hub for the UK flag carrier British Airways, as well as Virgin Atlantic.
  • In the 2011 census the total population of the United Kingdom was 63,181,775. It is the fourth-largest in Europe (after Russia, Germany and France).
  • Historically, indigenous British people were thought to be descended from the various ethnic groups that settled there before the 12th century: the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norse and the Normans. Welsh people could be the oldest ethnic group in the UK. The UK has a history of non-white immigration with Liverpool having the oldest Black population in the country dating back to at least the 1730s during the period of the African slave trade. The UK also has the oldest Chinese community in Europe, dating to the arrival of Chinese seamen in the 19th century. In 2011, 87.2 per cent of the UK population identified themselves as white, meaning 12.8 per cent of the UK population identify themselves as of one of an ethnic minority group.
  • The English language is the official and most spoken language of the United Kingdom that originated from England. Three indigenous Celtic languages are spoken in the UK: Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Cornish, which became extinct as a first language in the late 18th century, is subject to revival efforts and has a small group of second language speakers.
  • Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for more than 1,400 years.
  • Most British literature is in English. In 2005, some 206,000 books were published in the United Kingdom and in 2006 it was the largest publisher of books in the world. The English playwright and poet William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest dramatist of all time. The 20th-century English crime writer Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time.
  • Scotland's literature contributions include Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of Sherlock Holmes), Sir Walter Scott, J. M. Barrie, Robert Louis Stevenson and the poet Robert Burns.
  • Welsh literature includes Britain's oldest known poem, Y Gododdin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Gododdin], which was composed most likely in the late 6th century. It was written in Cumbric or Old Welsh and contains the earliest known reference to King Arthur.
  • Irish writers, living at a time when all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, include Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker and George Bernard Shaw.
  • The Beatles have international sales of over 1 billion units and are the biggest-selling and most influential band in the history of popular music. Other prominent British contributors to have influenced popular music over the last 50 years include the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Queen, Led Zeppelin, the Bee Gees, and Elton John. The Who, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, the Police, and Fleetwood Mac (who are a British-American band). More recent UK music acts that have had international success include George Michael, Oasis, Spice Girls, Radiohead, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse, Susan Boyle, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, One Direction and Harry Styles.
  • The United Kingdom has had a considerable influence on the history of the cinema. The British directors Alfred Hitchcock, whose film Vertigo is considered by some critics as the best film of all time, and David Lean are among the most critically acclaimed of all time. Many British actors have achieved international fame and critical success. Some of the most commercially successful films of all time have been produced in the United Kingdom, including two of the highest-grossing film franchises (Harry Potter and James Bond).
  • Afternoon tea is a light afternoon meal served with tea in tea rooms and hotels around the United Kingdom, with the tradition dating back to around 1840. A 2019 YouGov poll rated classic British food, the following had more than 80% of people like them who had tried them: Sunday roast, Yorkshire pudding, Fish and chips, Crumpets, and Full English breakfast. Sweet foods are common within British cuisine, and there is a long list of British desserts.
  • The BBC, founded in 1922, is the UK's publicly funded radio, television and Internet broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest and largest broadcaster in the world.
  • Association football, tennis, table tennis, badminton, rugby union, rugby league, rugby sevens, golf, boxing, netball, water polo, field hockey, billiards, darts, rowing, rounders and cricket originated or were substantially developed in the UK, with the rules and codes of many modern sports invented and codified in late 19th-century Victorian Britain. Football is the most popular sport in the UK. England is recognized by FIFA as the birthplace of club football, and the Football Association is the oldest of its kind, with the rules of football first drafted in 1863 by Ebenezer Cobb Morley. Rugby union was ranked the second most popular sport in the UK. The United Kingdom hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1908, 1948 and 2012, with London acting as the host city on all three occasions.

The flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Flag (also referred to as the Union Jack). It was created in 1606 by the superimposition of the flag of England, representing Saint George, on the flag of Scotland, representing Saint Andrew, and was updated in 1801 with the addition of Saint Patrick's Flag. Wales is not represented in the Union Flag, as Wales had been conquered and annexed to England prior to the formation of the United Kingdom. England, Wales, and Scotland each have a number of their own national symbols, including their national flags. Northern Ireland also has a number of symbols, many of which are shared with Republic of Ireland.

EtymologyIn 43 AD, Britannia referred to the Roman province that encompassed modern England and Wales. Great Britain encompassed the whole island, taking in the land north of the River Forth known to the Romans as Caledonia in modern Scotland (i.e. "greater" Britain). In the Middle Ages, the name "Britain" was also applied to a small part of France now known as Brittany. As a result, Great Britain (likely from the French "Grande Bretagne") came into use to refer specifically to the island, with Brittany often referred to as "Little Britain". However, that name had no official significance until 1707, when the island's kingdoms of England and Scotland were united as the Kingdom of Great Britain.

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