Your central issue is the residency requirement of the place you are located. Each jurisdiction (state, country) has its own residency periods. We cannot go into all the various periods here online, but you can easily search for this online.

Hypothetical: imagine the residency requirement in state X is one year. This means you must live in X for one year before the local court has subject matter jurisdiction to hear the divorce. Some states have two years, other have a few months. Some states have a cooling off period before a divorce can be filed after a residency period. You can look up the divorce requirements for the United Kingdom which include the minimum duration of the marriage (one year).

Divorce courts in either country plainly suck. The laws always favor the young mother (especially in England where child custody is presumed to the mother). Both countries have ridiculous statutes as to orders of protection ('prohibited steps' orders in England) which always place the young father in jeopardy of arrest. Children are traumatized out of a rational existence in either country.

Perhaps we may suggest speaking with lawyers in both jurisdictions ('barristers' in England).