The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, more commonly known as the United Kingdom, is a country in Europe. It appears in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.
It is the first nation encountered so-far whose pre-pandemic government survived the apocalypse and, as of 2023, continued to rule under martial law.
Pre-Apocalypse[]
The lands of the UK have been inhabited continuously since the Neolithic. In AD 43 the Roman conquest of Britain began; the Roman departure was followed by Anglo-Saxon settlement. In 1066, the Normans conquered England. With the end of the Wars of the Roses the English state stabilised and began to grow in power, resulting by the 16th century in the annexation of Wales, the domination of Scotland, and the establishment of the British Empire. Over the course of the 17th century, the role of the British monarchy was reduced, particularly as a result of the English Civil War. In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland united under the Treaty of Union to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Acts of Union 1800 incorporated the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922 as the Irish Free State, and the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 created the present United Kingdom.
The UK became the first industrialised country and was the world's foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the "Pax Britannica" between 1815 and 1914. At its height in the 1920s, the British Empire encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the largest empire in history. However, its involvement in the First World War and the Second World War damaged Britain's economic power and a global wave of decolonisation led to the independence of most British colonies. Elizabeth Kublek was an attaché for the UK Ministry of Defense.
Post-Apocalypse[]
According to Angus and Fiona, during the onset of outbreak, the British Military "locked down" the island to prevent societal collapse, securing it against the undead. This would make the United Kingdom one of the only countries known to have survived well into the Wildfire Virus pandemic. This could also indicate that the UK's governmental systems have remained largely intact or that it survived under martial law. Despite this, it's also known that there are large areas of the UK that had been left desolate by the apocalypse.
Within the first few years, the British Army secured the Chunnel, setting up a checkpoint near the France end with the intention of allowing surviving British citizens to return while keeping the French out. Angus and Fiona were able to use the Chunnel to travel to France in order to get married, but the British checkpoint eventually fell after the soldiers went insane and killed each other due to the psychoactive effects of bat guano in the Chunnel.
According to Losang, England has access to boats that can travel as far as Newfoundland, Canada. Losang arranges for one of these boats to transport Daryl Dixon in order to help him get home, but Daryl ultimately remains behind in France instead. Daryl, Carol Peletier, Codron, Angus, and Fiona later decide to use the Chunnel to cross from France to England in the hopes of finding a way back to America in England. Due to the same psychoactive effects of bat guano that had caused the British soldiers to go crazy, Daryl and Carol are ultimately the only ones to complete the journey to England.
It's unknown whether or not the surviving British Government is in contact with the Civic Republic of Philadelphia and vice versa, though it is likely given what Johnathan Beale said to Rick Grimes about the CRM having spies across the world.