The World's 10 Strangest Microstates

(Photo: Portsmouth & District Angling Society)

Behold the glorious Grand Duchy of the Lagoan Isles!

The uninformed among you may think of it as Baffins Pond in southern England. It's not. In 2005, a school teacher named Louis Robert Harold Stephens (now addressed as His Grace, the Grand Duke Louis) realized that the three tiny islands in this pond had never been claimed by anyone. They were therefore open for settlement. He named them the Lagoan Isles, as the word "lagoan" means "pond."

His Grace does not reside on the islands, but non-resident lordship is a common practice. For example, the Queen of Canada visits that domain only occasionally.

The Grand Duchy of the Lagoan Isles is 1 of 10 strange microstates rounded up by When on Earth.

The World's 10 Strangest Microstates