From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
United Kingdom of Great Britain
[1]
was a
state
in the
British Isles
.
[2]
The kingdom came into existence because of the
Acts of Union 1707
.
[3]
These
acts of parliament
joined (
unified
) the
Kingdom of Scotland
and the
Kingdom of England
.
[4]
The kingdom's lands were
Great Britain
(an island in the
Atlantic Ocean
near
Continental Europe
) and some other islands in the British Isles. Throughout its existence, the kingdom was in a
personal union
(sharing the same
monarchy
) with the
Kingdom of Ireland
. Outside the British Isles, Great Britain governed other lands and started
colonies
: the
British Empire
.
When the kingdom began, the
Parliament of Scotland
and the
Parliament of England
joined into one
legislature
, the
Parliament of Great Britain
. The parliament met in the old
Palace of Westminster
in London. London was the
capital city
and the British government was there. The two earlier kingdoms of Scotland and England had been in a
personal union
(sharing the same monarchy) since the
reign
of
James VI and I
. King James was a
King of Scots
who became
King of England
and
King of Ireland
in 1603 because he
inherited
the kingdoms of
Elizabeth I
.
In 1801, by the
Act of Union 1800
, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the
Kingdom of Ireland
joined into the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
after the putting down of the
Irish Rebellion of 1798
.
Anne
became
Queen of England
,
Queen of Scotland
, and
Queen of Ireland
in 1702. She became Queen of Great Britain when the new kingdom started in 1707. (Ireland was a separate kingdom, so Anne was Queen of Ireland and the later kings of Great Britain were each themselves King of Ireland.) From the start of 1801, during the
reign
of
George III
, the two kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain became the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
.
- George I
(1714?1727)
- George II
(1727?1760)
- George III
(1760?1801), continued as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 1820.