The formal date of England’s creation as a country is contested. Some say we turned 1,100 in 2025, marking the year when the Anglo-Saxon Athelstan was crowned “Rex Anglorum” — king of the English — in Kingston-upon-Thames in what’s now known as Surrey. Others suggest the anniversary falls two years later, commemorating 927, when Athelstan defeated Guthfrith of Ivar, the Irish-Norse claimant to York. That battle unified pretty much all of what we now consider England under his rule.
Either way, what isn’t in doubt is that England is among Europe’s oldest nations and the English are commemorating a landmark birthday around about now. Except hardly any English people seem to either know or care.
Celebrations for the two foundational events of England’s birth have been low key, and not much more party planning is expected. A train was named “Athelstan” in a ceremony attended by historian Tom Holland and a couple of dozen schoolkids in Kingston a few months back.
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