British overseas cities

A number of notable settlements within England and constituent countries of the grouping from the medieval period onwards were granted city status by British monarchs.

As these sometimes far-flung lands became established, locals and British settlers from the most notable settlements began to request privileges as a validation of their importance, and city status was one of the more dignified honours handed out to a select few communities, other title types including becoming a borough.

This was sometimes confirmed by the use of city seals[8] which were not necessarily connected to the presence of a church, although France was one of the more highly populated European countries of the period and had many cathedrals, by which more heavily inhabited areas were more likely to be given privileges.

[9] As the English empire expanded into the New World and parts of the old at the end of the medieval age, there were calls from these early communities for self-governance and charters were issued occasionally, sometimes by local governors which were ratified by monarchs.

[3] However, after a number of court cases, from 1863 the Privy Council ruled that the Church of England did not have jurisdiction over overseas dioceses in many circumstances where those countries had been given self-government, and therefore deprecating this short-lived tradition of royal grant establishing bishop sees at the same time as granting city status in the Empire,[11] causing concerns on the patents issued; Goulburn in Australia for example found itself declared a city twice - once by letters patent in 1863 and once by law in 1885 after doubts arose to its status.

[6] (brackets) contain former place names which the original grant may reference * a select number of notable cities granted the status by responsible government administrations (given the status by local legislature without royal prerogative) but prior to independence are indicated The description of the remaining overseas lands were changed from colonies and 'dependencies of the crown' in 1983 to British Dependent Territories and later either British Overseas Territories from 2002 and Crown Dependencies.

In 2021, submissions for city status were invited to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II, with Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories being allowed to take part for the first time.