Photo: EL SARO 92 / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Michael Bates is less a celebrity to me than a fascinating footnote about the limits of nationhood. He styles himself Prince Michael of Sealand and runs the Principality of Sealand, an old wartime sea fort his father Paddy Roy Bates claimed and turned into a self-declared micronation. No government recognizes it, but the family has held onto the title for decades, and Michael has carried it since his father died in 2012. I find the whole thing oddly endearing, an English businessman inheriting a one-of-a-kind eccentric legacy and treating it with complete seriousness. It's stubborn, quixotic, and very British.
Overview
Michael Roy Bates (born 1952 or 1953), self-styled as Prince Michael of Sealand, is an English businessman and self-published author. He operates a self-proclaimed and unrecognized micronation called the Principality of Sealand, which he inherited from his parents Paddy Roy Bates and Joan Bates. He has claimed the title "Prince of Sealand" since the death of his father in 2012.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Michael Bates
- Name (Japanese)
- マイケル・ベーツ (シーランド公)
- Reading
- まいける・べーつ (しーらんど公)
- Born
- January 1, 1952 (age 74)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Dragon
- Origin
- Westcliff-on-Sea, United Kingdom
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- businessperson
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Lindisfarne College
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Businessperson — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.