Great Britain and Ireland

Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom consists of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The southern part of Ireland is an independent. The United Kingdom is separated from the European continent by the English Channel.
The two most important rivers are the Thames and the Severn. The Thames flows threw the capital London into the North sea.
The most mountainous area of Great Britain is Scotland. The highest British mountain is Ben Nevis.
The greatest number of lakes can be found in Northern Scotland and in the Lake District. The best known of them is Loch Ness, for its legendary monster, and Loch Lomond.
The climate of Great Britain is moderate, the weather usually quite wet. Winter temperatures are usually higher and summer temperatures lower.
In Britain there are university towns - Oxford and Cambridge. There is Stratford upon Avon - birthplace of William Shakespeare.

The first inhabitants were the Celts. The Romans built the “Hadrian Wall”. The 19th century under the reign of Queen Victoria was the heyday of the Monarchy. The UK was at its top, it was No. 1 power in the world. After WWI (1914 – 1918), in the mid 1920s the United Kingdom lost the southern (catholic) part of Ireland which became an independent republic.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. The head of the monarchy is the King or the Queen (currently Elisabeth II). The head of government is prime minister - now it is Tony Blair.
The Royal Family: Elisabeth II is Britains Queen, Charles, the Prince of Wales, is the Queen’s eldest son and the heir to the throne. In 1981 he married Lady Diana Spencer and they have two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. In 1996 they were divorced. Lady “Di” died in 1997 in a car accident in Paris.
The British National Anthem’s name is “God Save the Queen” which is modified in “God Save the King.“

The capitol city is London. It is one of the largest city of the world, it has population about 8 million people.