"Scott Migaldi" wrote in message
...
Jay Honeck wrote:


I'm almost afraid to ask WHY these places would want to be British
territory but NOT part of the United Kingdom? Tradition, I presume?

The Channel Islands have the queen as their head and arrived within the
sovereigns domain in 1066 when William, Duke of Normandy took the English
throne. The islands were part of the Normandy estate. That's long gone but
the Islands are still under the Crown and have a curious mix of a very
localised French and English,

The islands were the only part of the British Isles occupied by the Germans
during the war and were ordered to surrender to protect the lives of the
islanders.
The Germans built some enormous defensive formations on the islands with
slave labour from Eastern Europe (most of whom did not survive),which are
still there.

Jersey is now it is a major financial centre with low income tax but it is
impossible to get permanent residency unless one is very rich or born on the
island.

Interestingly the island also gave its name to New Jersey. A former governor
of Jersey ( Sir George Carteret) was given a large chunk of what was New
Netherlands and he named it New Jersey.


Sir George Carteret (1615 1680) came of old French stock on the Channel
island of Jersey, which he held for King Charles I as the last Stuart
stronghold to surrender to Cromwell. He was a distinguished naval officer,
though rather careless in business and without much education. He died just
too soon to receive the patent of nobility the king had intended for him.
Carteret and Lord Berkeley were for a while Lords Proprietors of New Jersey,
which he named for his home island.