An ex-major of the British Army, Roy Bates, has claimed a rusted military structure in the North Sea as the foundation for a self-declared nation known as the Principality of Sealand. This micronation has developed its own currency, flag, national anthem, stamps, coat of arms, and constitution. Even a crown was given to his wife for her birthday. The structure, called Roughs Tower, was originally built during World War II to house anti-aircraft guns and was later abandoned by the British Ministry of Defense. In 1967, Roy Bates and his family officially declared the site a principality, asserting independence from the United Kingdom. At the time, British territorial waters extended only about six kilometers from the coast, meaning the platform was beyond the reach of British law. On December 25, 1966, Bates and friends arrived at the structure and took control of it. A year later, on September 2, 1967, the couple formally proclaimed the independence of Sealand. They settled in the former military quarters, living on the concrete pillars of the abandoned installation with their family. Sealand adopted English as its official language and a libertarian constitution. In 1968, Roy Bates’ son was involved in a shooting incident with British agents who approached the platform. The Chelmsford court in Essex ruled it had no jurisdiction over the case because the event occurred outside British territorial waters. This lack of prosecution was interpreted by Bates as an informal recognition of Sealand's sovereignty, though no country has officially recognized the principality despite its formal structures. Under international law, a recognized state must have a stable population, defined territory, effective government, and the ability to engage with other states. While Sealand meets these conditions on paper, it has never received formal recognition from any other nation. Its status as an artificial island places it outside the definition of an island under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which reserves the creation of such structures for sovereign states. Courts have also questioned the practical capabilities of the Sealand "government" to support its residents. In 1978, while Roy Bates was away, a self-proclaimed prime minister of Sealand, Alexander Achenbach, led a military takeover of the platform with German and Dutch citizens. He held Bates’ son hostage before releasing him to the Netherlands. Bates retaliated by hiring armed men and retook the platform during a helicopter assault, holding the attackers as "prisoners of war." A German lawyer with a Sealand passport, Gernot Pütz, was accused of treason and detained until a ransom of 75,000 marks was paid. Germany had to negotiate his release with the UK. In 1987, when British territorial waters were expanded to twelve nautical miles, Roy Bates claimed his own twelve-mile zone to ensure Sealand remained independent. Twenty years later, when the platform was put up for sale, the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay raised nearly two million dollars to buy it. However, Michael Bates, Roy’s son, refused to sell the territory to a buyer who would not respect international laws.