Thanks Guys - I had never before been in this situation, so was unsure if it was real or a bug of sorts.
As long s it is meant to be allowed, then all is well - I thought it may be inadvertent because of the line in the patch notes about the Duplicate Districts exploit being fixed.
Clarification is much appreciated.
It ended up being a strange game - Gran Columbia is not that overpowered if you don't have anyone to declare early wars on - it is very easy to start to fall seriously behind at that point.
I ended up with a Science win, without firing a shot in anger except for 2 literally last turn City States that flipped independent and started to attack me (would that they did not go fully independent when rebelling due to cultural & loyalty pressure but that is another thread altogether).