A side comment. Do you know who wrote these words? "It is not in our custom to [annex] countries unless we are obliged & forced to do so."
It was Queen Victoria. [Ref.] Here's some more trivia for you: at the early height of the British Empire, the Sovereign was not an Emperor. Even when America was still the colonies, George III was titled King of the United Kingdon of England, Scotland and Ireland. Formally, Queen Victora was only Queen of the U.K. and Empress of India.
Was it not under Queen V that the saying was the sun never set on the British empire? How was England forced to annex a country?
Actually, when America was still the colonies, George was titled: “George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire”