This is the strange tale of a British family who decided to establish their own nation.

On Christmas Eve 1966, Paddy Bates and his son, Michael, took possession of an abandoned anti-aircraft gun emplacement seven and a half miles off the coast of southeast England. The following year, they declared independence. Fifty-two years later they are still independent despite the occasional hiccup such as an armed invasion by German merceneries.

Mike McDowall spoke to Michael Bates, now Prince Michael of Sealand.