London

===Status===
Within London, both the City of London and the [[City of Westminster]] have [[City status in the United Kingdom|city status]] and both the City of London and the remainder of Greater London are [[Ceremonial counties of England|counties for the purposes of lieutenancies]].<ref name=london_049>{{Cite web |url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/ukpga_19970023_en_1 |title=Lieutenancies Act 1997 |publisher=OPSI |access-date=7 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522210452/http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/ukpga_19970023_en_1 |archive-date=22 May 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The area of [[Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England#Greater London|Greater London]] includes areas that are part of the [[Historic counties of England|historic counties]] of [[Middlesex]], [[Kent]], [[Surrey]], [[Essex]] and [[Hertfordshire]].<ref name="london_050">{{Cite book |last=Barlow |first=I.M. |title=Metropolitan Government |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=1991 |isbn=9780415020992 |location=London |page=346}}</ref> London's status as the capital of England, and later the United Kingdom, has never been granted or confirmed by statute or in written form.{{refn|According to the ''Collins English Dictionary'' definition of 'the seat of government',<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sinclair |first1=J.M. |title=Collins English dictionary. |date=1994 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |location=Glasgow |isbn=978-0004706788 |edition=3rd updated}}</ref> London is not the capital of England, as England does not have its own government. According to the ''Oxford English Reference Dictionary'' definition of 'the most important town' and many other authorities.<ref>{{Cite book |editor1-last=Pearsall |editor1-first=Judy |editor2-last=Trumble |editor2-first=Bill |title=The Oxford English Reference Dictionary |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, England |isbn=978-0198606529 |edition=2nd, rev}}</ref>|group=note}}

Its status as a capital was established by [[constitutional convention (political custom)|constitutional convention]], which means its status as ''de facto'' capital is a part of the [[Constitution of the United Kingdom|UK's uncodified constitution]]. The capital of England was moved to London from [[Winchester]] as the [[Palace of Westminster]] developed in the 12th and 13th centuries to become the permanent location of the [[Noble court|royal court]], and thus the political capital of the nation.<ref name=london_060>{{Cite journal |last=Schofield |first=John |title=When London became a European capital |date=June 1999 |journal=British Archaeology |publisher=Council for British Archaeology |issue=45 |issn=1357-4442 |url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/BA/ba45/ba45regs.html |access-date=6 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425074539/http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba45/ba45regs.html |archive-date=25 April 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> More recently, Greater London has been defined as a [[Regions of England|region of England]] and in this context is known as ''London''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gos.gov.uk/gol/factgol/London/?a=42496 |title=Government Offices for the English Regions, Fact Files: London |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=4 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124102915/http://www.gos.gov.uk/gol/factgol/London/?a=42496 |archive-date=24 January 2008}}</ref>