Helicopter - the platform was established in the 1940s
THESE vintage images capture events on the principality of Sealand.
The offshore Naval platform, also known as Roughs Tower, was built to protect the north Essex coast, at Harwich, from German invasion in 1941.
But after the war it was deserted, until 50 years ago when Southend's Roy Bates turned it into Sealand and moved his family in.
Attempts by the Royal Navy to remove him failed when a court ruled Sealand was not part of England or any other nation.
The family survived a coup in 1978 when Mr Bates’ son Michael was taken hostage and released weeks later.
In happier times, couple Gordon Wilkinson and Karen Huxtable got married on Sealand, seen here in our archive images.
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