Roy Bates? Prince Roy of Sealand? Sealand?
Sealand's website: The Principality of Sealand
Roy's obituary:
Prince Roy of Sealand aka Roy Bates (passed away 9th October 2012) ObituaryA wonderful life lived well. From Sealand's About page:
Born 1921 to Harry and Lilyan Bates, Roy was born to be an adventurer. The only surviving child of five siblings who all died as baby's or in early childhood. At the age of 15 he made his way to the Spanish civil war to join the international brigade seeking adventure, eventually returning to the UK via Gibraltar. He then took up an apprenticeship at Smithfield meat market with Lord Vesty intending to go to Argentina and run cattle ranches for him.
About Sealand
Sealand was founded as a sovereign Principality in 1967 in international waters, six miles off the eastern shores of Britain. The history of Sealand is a story of a struggle for liberty. Sealand was founded on the principle that any group of people dissatisfied with the oppressive laws and restrictions of existing nation states may declare independence in any place not claimed to be under the jurisdiction of another sovereign entity. The location chosen was Roughs Tower, an island fortress created in World War II by Britain and subsequently abandoned to the jurisdiction of the High Seas.
The independence of Sealand was upheld in a 1968 British court decision where the judge held that Roughs Tower stood in international waters and did not fall under the legal jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. This gave birth to Sealand's national motto of E Mare Libertas, or "From the Sea, Freedom".
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