The official name of the UK

London is the capital of England. This is a common affirmation which, in fact, is not completely correct. It is true that London is the capital city of England...but England is not the correct name of the whole state. This name, England, stands only for a part of a unitary state: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (known simply as United Kingdom or UK).

England is only one of its four administrative divisions or countries, together with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Each of them has its own capital city. They even have their own flags, different from the "Union Jack", which is the official one for the state. They all speak English, which is the official language, but they have also have their own languages. In fact, there are four Celtic languages which are still in use in the UK: Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Cornish. The four countries have many things in common, but they have lots of specific regional traits which make each one different from the others. Thus, there is an important nationalist feeling amongst the population form each country, specially in Northern Ireland and Scotland. For many British people, except for those from England, it is considered a mistake to call them English. For the inhabitants of the other three countries, we should better call them Scottish, Irish or Welsh. In case of doubts, we can call them British, so this is the adjective including all four countries. Now, we are ready to go back to the initial affirmation: London is the capital city of England, which is one of the four countries in the UK. So, London is the capital city of the United Kingdom. Find out more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom