HE is the heir to a very unusual throne and has given an insight into life inside his very own tiny principality.

James Bates, 28, is a Leigh fisherman, but also next in line to become head of state of his very own principality.

Sealand is a tiny territory taking up just a 168 by 188ft space in the North Sea, making it one of the smallest unrecognised states in the world.

It is based six nautical miles off the coast of Harwich and was founded by James’s grandfather Roy Bates, from Thorpe Bay, in 1967.

Originally a Royal Navy fortress, built in 1942, to protect the port of Harwich from the Germans, it is now James’s home from home with his dad, Prince Michael, its current head of state.

He said: “I spend about five weeks a year there and stay overnight all the time.

“It’s just incredibly quiet when you’re there – you feel really isolated because everything’s so far away.

“The weather can be horrendous, though – we were there last September and the waves were smashing into the underside of the platform, so everything was shaking.

“I went out there once when I was ten and a boat was meant to come pick us up, but the weather blew up and we were there for three weeks.

“We’ve fitted a new kitchen recently, though, and there’s everything you’d expect at home – a living room, bathroom and bedrooms.

“On a clear day, you can see the shore and all the twinkling lights from the city, but it’s ridiculous how many stars you can see at night – you can even see all the craters on the Moon, because there’s no light pollution out there.”

Roy, who died in 2012, certainly never fitted the conventional image of a grandfather, but James says he never had a feeling there was anything unusual about his family while he was growing up, despite them having their own kingdom.

“I moved to Leigh when I was six after living in Scotland for a couple of years because my dad went up there for the cockles, but my grandpa had fishing boats out of Leigh since the late Fifties – he even had a fleet down here at one point, but he always had different projects on the go and, once he took over Sealand, he moved away from fishing.

“He lived and breathed the place and sacrificed a lot to keep it – it never really made any money, even though he always planned for it to be self-financing. So it was always financed by his fishing and other businesses.

“It was all just part of growing up, It never really came across as weird to me.

“My friends found it weird, though, and when I was at boarding school I took some friends out there for a party, which they found fascinating.”

For the most part, however, James’s life is essentially like any other. He earns a living in Old Leigh skippering the Charlotte Joan alongside brother Liam, 26, who recently took command of the Revenge.

And, like many young married men – or heir-apparents, for that matter – he has also started a family, with little Freddy Bates coming into the world six months ago.

James says he would like Freddy to be a fisherman, but says it’s up to him to decide what he wants to do in life.

Whatever he does, however, he will one day be Prince of Sealand.

James said: "It’s a massive part of our lives.

“Houses have been remortgaged and jewellery sold over the years, but it’s finally got to a point where it’s paying for itself.

“Someone asked my dad recently why he does it and he couldn’t really say why – it’s just who we are.”