Originally Posted by
CMK10
Well no, they're not.
They are not sovereign states but they are
constituent countries of the United Kingdom (which is a sovereign state). I know of no institution or organisation in the UK that does not recognise them as countries.*
The title of this thread is not "How many Sovereign States have you Visited" but "How many Countries..."
As a British Citizen, with a Welsh mother, an English father and resident in Scotland, I would be shocked (and rather angry) if any
legal document came into my purview that described any of them as anything other than a country. Just out of curiosity,
CMK10, what would you describe England (or Scotland, or Wales) as, if not a country?
-- Henry
* Well, in the case of Wales, there is the Church of England and the Lawn Tennis Association, who still (occasionally) use the term "All England" for "England and Wales."
** In the case of Northern Ireland, there is an on-going dispute over its status (Dublin has a formal but non-belligerent claim that it is - or should be - part of the Republic of Ireland).