Pretty much anywhere you look, Wales and Scotland are listed as independent countries, except not really. Even the Isle of Man, which isn’t a part of the UK (somehow) reports to England in some capacity. And then there’s Northern Ireland; I don’t know what their deal is. Every google search just makes me more confused, so is there some Brit who can enlighten me?
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The nations in the UK – England and Scotland are “constituent countries”, Wales is a principality and Northern Ireland is a province – are not listed as sovereign states in international law, &c. but Heaven help you if you suggest to people from these nations that they are not separate nations!
(Most) British people have been accustomed to identifying by their nation *and* the UK political union at the same time without contradiction.
Crown dependencies and British Overseas Territories are not part of the UK but still take foreign- and defence-policy orders from the UK government. (The Isle of Man is a crown dependency.)
HTH
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