UK grants Gibraltar ‘city’ status 180 years late

The UK has granted Gibraltar the status of “city”, 180 years after it was first awarded by Queen Victoria.

Gibraltar is now one of only five places outside the UK recognized in this way, in addition to hamiltonin Bermuda, jamestownin Saint Helena, douglas, on the Isle of Man and Stanleyin the Falkland Islands.

This status of “city” (city, in English) is associated with the fact of having a cathedral, university or a large population, although there are no official rules for its concession, and is granted by the British queenunder the advice of the Government.

Become City does not bring economic benefitsalthough, according to the BBC, it provides a boost to the communities of the place by placing it on the map.

[La negociación para derribar la Verja de Gibraltar tras el Brexit se atasca en Bruselas]

As reported on Monday by the BBC television network, at the beginning of the year the authorities of the colony requested that Gibraltar be officially granted this recognition as part of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubileehis 70 years on the throne.

For the first time in 1842

Reviewing the National Archives, the researchers found that Gibraltar had already been designated as a city for the first time in 1842, during the reign of Queen Victoria although this fact was omitted, for unknown reasons, during all these years.

In this way, the Rock now sees its status reaffirmed, which is an “enormous recognition”, according to what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pointed out to the aforementioned channel, in the “rich history” of the Rock.

During the past celebrations for Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, 39 places formally applied to adopt city status, something that they obtained, among others, Doncaster, Bangor or Dunfermline.

The Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office, Kit Malthouse, told the BBC that “the cities on this list are incredibly rich in history and culture, and their residents are rightly very proud to see that the relevance of their cities is captured on paper”.

ANDhe Rock is British Territory From 1713, when the Treaty of Utrecht was signed and it was ceded to this country after the War of the Spanish Succession.