What's the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom? What's the best English
music festival? And do English people really drink a lot of tea? Read about England and find out!
England is the biggest of the four countries in the United Kingdom. Together with Scotland and Wales,
these three countries are the island of Great Britain. The English Channel is in the south between England
and France. People travel to France by ferry across the English Channel or by train through the Channel
Tunnel which goes under the sea.
Over 50 million people live in England, that’s around 80% of the total UK population. It is a multicultural
country where more than 250 languages are spoken in the capital city, London. The United Kingdom is a
constitutional monarchy. The head of the monarchy is Queen Elizabeth II, but laws and political decisions
in England are made by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Houses of Parliament are in central
London next to the River Thames and the most famous part is the clock tower, Big Ben.
Other large cities in England are Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol. England is a very green
country and has many rural areas of natural beauty such as ‘The Lake District’, an area with lots of lakes in
the north, or ‘The New Forest’, a big area of forest in the south of the country