Gibraltar has been granted “city” status by the United Kingdom, 180 years after it was first granted by Queen Victoria.
According to 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 Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, her 70 years on the throne.
When the researchers reviewed the National Archives, they 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.
According to this, Gibraltar is now one of 5 places outside the UK recognized in this way, in addition to Hamilton in Bermuda, Jamestown in St Helena, Douglas in the Isle of Man and Stanley in the Falkland Islands.
This status of “city” is associated with the fact of having a cathedral, university or a large population, although there are no official rules for its concession, and it is granted by the British queen, under the advice of the Government.
Becoming a City does not bring economic benefits, although, according to the BBC, it provides a boost to the communities of the place by placing it on the map.
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”.
The Rock is British territory since 1713, when the Treaty of Utrecht was signed and it was ceded to this country after the War of the Spanish Succession.
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