Pledging allegiance

And becoming a citizen...

A day after we arrived home in the UK after visiting the US for a month, I received notice that my application for UK citizenship has been accepted. In a few weeks I will pledge my loyalty to the King and the United Kingdom, and I will be an official UK citizen. 🇬🇧

I spent most of my life in California. For the last thirteen plus years I have been living in the UK, learning to understand this culture and contribute as best I can. You can read about some of my challenges HERE and HERE.

Earlier on in my sequence of visas that ultimately led to applying for Citizenship, I needed to take—and pass—a ‘Life in the UK’ test. As the test practice site says: “It is a test that consists of a multiple choice exam made up of 24 questions to be answered in 45 minutes. Applicants need to answer 18 questions correctly in order to pass the exam. All the questions are based on the Life in the UK: A Guide for New Residents Handbook, which comprises six chapters covering a number of subjects from the history of Britain, its people customs and traditions to the political systems and laws that govern the United Kingdom.”¹ They are not kidding; this test covers EVERYTHING one should know about living in the UK.

When I was studying for the exam, I was managing a Coworking space in Plymouth. If my colleagues took a break, I would pepper them with the questions I was learning to see if they knew the answers; my colleagues were as challenged as I was. For your entertainment, I’ve selected some of the questions from one of the tests and pasted them below. Have a go and see how you do! Answers are provided at the end of this post. If you aren’t interested, feel free to skip on down to the rest of this post just below the numbered questions.

1. When did Britain become permanently separated from the continent by the Channel?

   1. 10,000 years ago

   2. 15,000 years ago

   3. 18,000 years ago

   4. 50,000 years ago

2. The Commonwealth has no power over its members and it cannot suspend their membership:

   1. True

   2. False

3. Who was reigning in England when Wales became formally united with England by the Act for the Government of Wales?

   1. Henry VIII

   2. Henry VII

   3. Elizabeth I

   4. James I

4. The Elizabethan period is known for the richness of its poetry and drama, especially for the plays and poems of which playwright?

   1. Alexander Dumas

   2. William Shakespeare

   3. Charles Dickens

   4. Thomas Hardy

5. When is Christmas Eve celebrated?

   1. 24th of December

   2. 26th of December

   3. 25th of December

   4. 27th of December

6. Which British sportsman won five consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games in the rowing category?

   1. Sir Chris Hoy

   2. Christopher Dean

   3. Bradley Wiggins

   4. Sir Steve Redgrave

7. What is the name of the centrepiece to the Remembrance Day service located in Whitehall, London?

   1. Cenotaph

   2. Stonehenge

   3. Grimsby

   4. Scunthorpe

8. Who was the inventor of the World Wide Web?

   1. Sir Tim Berners-Lee

   2. Sir Peter Mansfield

   3. Sir Ian Wilmut

   4. Sir Bernard Lovell

9. What does the UK offer to its residents or citizens (choose FIVE answers)?

   1. Freedom of belief and religion

   2. Freedom of speech

   3. Free university tuition fees

   4. Freedom from unfair discrimination

   5. A right to a fair trial

   6. A right to join in the election of a government

10. When did the Wars of the Roses start?

    1. 1388

    2. 1455

    3. 1462

    4. 1478

11. What does the term ‘coalition’ refer to?

    1. If no political party wins a majority, a new election is held to vote for one of the top two parties only

    2. The candidate who gets the most votes is elected

    3. If no political party wins a majority, two parties may join and govern together

    4. If an MP dies or resigns, there will be a fresh election

12. Pool and darts are traditional pub games.

    1. True

    2. False

13. When did the UK formally leave the European Union?

    1. 31 January 2019

    2. 30 January 2020

    3. 31 January 2020

    4. 30 January 2019

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So, how did you do? You can imagine I studied hard for a few months before taking the test. It costs a fair amount of money and I did not want to fail and have to retake the test after a waiting period. When I finally took the test, I was stumped by a couple of the questions, but I passed. And I had it pretty easy: coming from the US, we share many of the same holiday traditions, pop culture and even some of the same language. Imagine coming from a non-Western country and having to learn the language as well as all the customs, traditions and history.

Now, a few years and visa renewals later, I am ready to swear allegiance to another country. (By the way, I am allowed to keep my US citizenship as well, so I will have dual-citizenship).

L-Mayflower steps in Plymouth UK, where the ships left to carry settlers to colonise America, landing eventually in Plymouth Massachusetts. R-Artefacts collected from the Miwok Indians, a tribe located a few miles from where I grew up in California, by Sir Francis Drake who lived in the house where they are displayed, only a few miles from where I first moved in England.

My dual-country life: Top: Downtown Ventura, California poppies at the beach. Bottom: Stonehenge; waving the UK flag for the Olympic torch in 2012.

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In preparation for the day, I have been sent the words that I will say at my ceremony, so I can practice. The affirmation and pledge are:

Affirmation of allegiance

I (name) do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that on becoming a British Citizen, I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III, his Heirs and Successors, according to law.

Pledge

I will give my loyalty to the United Kingdom and respect its rights and freedoms. I will uphold its democratic values. I will observe its laws faithfully and fulfil my duties and obligations as a British citizen.

Since I was given these words, I have been pondering the idea of pledging allegiance.

Honour guard for Thanksgiving commemoration, Plymouth, UK

Unlike practices here in the UK, as a child growing up in the United States, we were required to verbally pledge allegiance to our Flag, and by extension our country, every morning. We all stood up and spoke aloud, together with our teacher and all our classmates:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

U.S. Flag displayed in Boston Massachusetts

Since this ritual occurred every school day of my childhood, I have a fond memory of reciting this morning pledge, facing the flag, hand on heart. I enjoyed the mantra of reciting the short pledge aloud together; taking that moment to pause, think (sometimes) about what we were saying, and then join together with my teacher and classmates in whatever the day would bring. It was a start-the-day ritual that I didn’t really think much about at the time, but I realise now was a very comforting habit. It was the breathing in before the exhale of the day’s events; less about the words, and more about the ritual.

The chanting of syllables was always the same, a rhythmical slurring together of clumps of words so they became meaningless, but are a kind of poetry nonetheless.

I plejeallejance totheflag

of the unitedstatesofmerica,

and totherepublic

for whichitstands,

oneNation

underGod,

indivisible,

with libertyandjusticeforall.”

Over the years our voices changed, particularly in middle school as the boys’ voices deepened. As we got older and we were participating in a controversial war, I considered what swearing allegiance meant and if I was still prepared to do that. For the most part I believed in the values I was swearing allegiance to, if not the specific way our government was executing its version of “liberty and justice for all’. But I wasn’t pledging allegiance to the individuals running the country (or even the flag), but rather to the ideals of our nation, and that I have always believed in.

Now I will be officially adopting another country’s values and laws, which thankfully do not differ hugely from those of my birth country. I will have the great privilege of being a citizen of two countries, with the obligations and responsibilities of each. I do not always agree with courses of action taken by my governments, but I do believe in the democratic principles on which they aspire to operate.

I’m looking forward to belonging officially to a new tribe, one that I have worked hard to understand. I’ll continue to marvel at our differences and how two countries so seemingly similar can have such amazingly divergent customs and language. And my joy will expand as we keep exploring new places, people, and perspectives. 🇬🇧❤️🇺🇸

“The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation…it must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.”-Eleanor Roosevelt

As always, thanks so very much for reading! You know I love to hear YOUR thoughts!

Let me know if you have ever pledged allegiance to another country, or thought about it. Why, and/or what is stopping you?

Did you grow up pledging to the flag, or other similar traditions? Did you think about it then? Do you think about it now?

Until next week, stay healthy and hopeful!

xoxo Sabrina

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1. You can click here to try one (or many!) of the tests for yourself: https://lifeintheuktestweb.co.uk/test-1/

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Official Answers to the test above:

1. a. 10,000 years ago

2. True: The Commonwealth has no power over its members, although it can suspend membership.

3. a. During the reign of Henry VIII, Wales became formally united with England by the Act for the Government of Wales.

4. b. William Shakespeare

5. a. 24th of December

6. d. Sir Steve Redgrave won gold medals in rowing in five consecutive Olympic Games and is one of Britain’s greatest Olympians.

7. a. The Cenotaph in Whitehall is the site of the annual Remembrance Day service attended by the King, politicians and foreign ambassadors.

8. a. Sir Tim Berners-Lee

9. All five except c. Free tuition

10. b. In 1455, a civil war was begun to decide who should be king of England. It was fought between the supporters of two families: the House of Lancaster and the House of York. This war was called the Wars of the Roses, because the symbol of Lancaster was a red rose and the symbol of York was a white rose.

11. c. The government is usually formed by the party that wins the majority of constituencies. If no party wins a majority, two parties may join together to form a coalition.

12. True

13. c. The UK formally left the European Union on 31 January 2020.