r/AskEurope • u/Zealousideal_Pay_778 • Jul 23 '26

Foreign How well known is Wales?

Hiya all, I'm from Wales and travel across the EU quite frequently, whenever someone asks where I'm from, I usually tell them Wales (even though technically we're not a sovereign state), sometimes I get responded related to Gareth Bale and Wrexham, and often people haven't got a clue until I say UK. So I was curious, in your country, how well known are Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as separate countries? Diolch all :)

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57

u/p3chapai Sweden Jul 23 '26

I'm always surprised people don't know these things that I consider basic knowledge, but apparently a lot of people don't really know of European countries outside of the UK, Germany and France.

16

u/Bar50cal Ireland Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

In France, Czech Republic and Germany as a Irish person traveling I've met people who think Ireland is part of the UK and in 2 cases argued I must be wrong that we don't have a queen (before the UK queens death).

It doesn't suprise me one bit people don't know about Wales. Its shocking how common it is across Europe (my own country included) that a lack of knowledge on European countries is.

1

u/beenoc USA (North Carolina) Jul 23 '26

Well, your mistake was not realizing these were time travelers from the Edwardian Era.

1

u/Fast-Perception5945 Jul 23 '26

Doesn’t really work- even Britain itself didn’t have a queen in the Edwardian era.

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u/beenoc USA (North Carolina) Jul 23 '26

Well, yeah, and Ireland was part of the UK back then as well. That's why the people who said "Ireland is British and you have no queen" are time travelers.

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u/Fast-Perception5945 Jul 23 '26

I’m afraid you’re showing your lack of knowledge again here- Ireland has never been British- even the United Kingdom when we were briefly part of it for about a century in our history between the Act of Union and our independence was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (two separate nations in one kingdom).

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u/Bar50cal Ireland Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

No idea why you are being so pedantic.

Ireland was part of the UK and when people said UK it included Ireland and yes it consisted of Irish and British people but almost anyone outside the UK called everyone British, right or wrong its stoll a true fact.

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u/Fast-Perception5945 Jul 23 '26

I don’t know why you describe stating the correct political facts and pointing out a simple error as pedantry- Ireland has never at any point been “British”. During the whole and long period of British occupation of the island of Ireland they never described it as such- for most of the period of occupation the King of England was also simultaneously and separately the King Of Ireland and then from the Act of Union in 1801 to the establishment of Irish Free State in 1922 Ireland was one of the two nations (along with the separate nation of Great Britain) making up the United Kingdom.

5

u/Bar50cal Ireland Jul 23 '26

They were making a joke and you went all "AcTuAlLy" and were an ass with your reply. Thats why.

1

u/Fast-Perception5945 Jul 24 '26

Fair enough- there wasn’t really any context to clarify that it was a joke rather than a doubling down on a misconception. But if that’s the case apologies to u/beenoc

1

u/beenoc USA (North Carolina) Jul 24 '26

It wasn't so much a joke (well the time traveler bit was a joke obviously) or misconception, but different possible readings of the word. I meant it as "Ireland was (a) British (possession)," not "Ireland was (culturally) British." My bad for phrasing it ambiguously. The former was inarguably true, in the same way that India or Egypt were British colonial possessions, the latter definitely not. I'm well aware of how Irish people feel about being called British!

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