page_title: Poles in the United Kingdom
section_title: Symbolism of political governance
hierarchical_section_title: Poles in the United Kingdom / Post World War II / Symbolism of political governance
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Piotr Kownacki, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Ryszard Kaczorowski i Lech Wałęsa. Obchody XX-lecia odrodzonego SenatuEnglish: Piotr Kownacki, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Ryszard Kaczorowski and Lech Wałęsa. 20th anniversary of re-establishment of the Polish Senate
context_page_description: British Poles, alternatively known as Polish-British people or Polish Britons, are Poles who are citizens of the United Kingdom. This includes people born in the UK who are of Polish descent, and Polish-born people who reside in the UK. There are approximately 800,000 people of Polish nationality in the UK, making them one of the largest ethnic minorities in the country alongside Indians, Pakistanis, Germans and the Irish. The Polish language is the second-most spoken language in England, and the third-most spoken in the UK after English and Welsh. About 1% of the UK population speaks Polish.
  Exchanges between the two countries date back to medieval times, when Britain, Europe's chief power, and Poland, then one of Europe's largest countries, were linked by trade and diplomacy. A notable 16th-century Polish resident in England was the Protestant convert, John Laski, who influenced the course of the English Reformation and helped in establishing the Church of England.
context_section_description: In December 1990, when Lech Wałęsa became the first non-Communist president of Poland since the war, the ceremonial insignia of the Polish Republic, including the original text of the Polish 1935 constitution were handed over to him in Warsaw by the last "President" of the London-based government-in-exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski. This act symbolized the legitimate transfer of independent Poland's seals of office and put an end to the political opposition that, for half a century, had both dogged and been the bedrock of the Polish diaspora in the United Kingdom. Arguably a majority of Polish people had fought hard to combat communism, and for their right to democratic liberties. While an increasingly frail and diminishing group upheld the existence of the "Zamek" – "Citadel" shorthand for the Polish National Council as the "virtual opposition" to the communist regime in Poland it held little sway with the Polish diaspora in the UK. Instead, London came to be seen as an important centre for fostering business and cultural relations with contemporary Poland.
caption: From left: Piotr Kownacki, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Ryszard Kaczorowski, Lech Wałęsa, on 20th anniversary of re-establishment of Polish Senate in Warsaw
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