This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone. Are you certain this article is inappropriate? Excessive Violence Sexual Content Political / Social
Email Address:
Article Id: WHEBN0000046204 Reproduction Date:
Prince of Wales (Welsh: Tywysog Cymru) is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent of the British or English monarch. The current Prince of Wales is Prince Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, who is Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other independent Commonwealth realms as well as Head of the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations.
The Prince of Wales is the heir apparent of the monarch. He has no formal public role or responsibility that has been legislated by Parliament or otherwise delegated by law. He does, however, carry out ceremonial visits and tours, representing the Sovereign when he or she cannot be or is not present.
Charles, like most previous Princes of Wales, is also Duke of Cornwall and therefore responsible for the duchy of Cornwall, a private estate that funds the activities of the heir to the throne.
For most of the post-Roman period, the nation of Wales was divided into several smaller states. Before the Norman conquest of England, the most powerful Welsh ruler at any given time was generally known as King of the Britons. In the 12th century and the 13th century, this title evolved into Prince of Wales (see Brut y Tywysogion). In Latin, the new title was Princeps Walliae, and in Welsh it was Tywysog Cymru. The literal translation of Tywysog is "Leader". (The verb tywys means "to lead".)
Only a handful of native princes had their claim to the overlordship of Wales recognised by the English Crown. The first known to have used such a title was Owain Gwynedd, adopting the title Prince of the Welsh around 1165 after earlier using rex Waliae ("King of Wales"). His grandson Llywelyn the Great is not known to have used the title "Prince of Wales" as such, although his use, from around 1230, of the style "Prince of Aberffraw, Lord of Snowdon" was tantamount to a proclamation of authority over most of Wales, and he did use the title "Prince of North Wales" as did his predecessor Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd. In 1240, the title was theoretically inherited by his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn, though he is not known to have used it. Instead he styled himself as "Prince of Wales" around 1244, the first Welsh prince to do so. In 1246, his nephew Llywelyn ap Gruffudd succeeded to the throne of Gwynedd, and used the style as early as 1258. In 1267, with the signing of the Treaty of Montgomery, he was recognised by both King Henry III of England and the representative of the Papacy as Prince of Wales. In 1282, Llywelyn was killed during Edward I of England's invasion of Wales and although his brother Dafydd ap Gruffudd succeeded to the Welsh princeship, issuing documents as prince, his principate was not recognised by the English Crown.
Three Welshmen, however, claimed the title of Prince of Wales after 1283.
The first was Madog ap Llywelyn, a member of the house of Gwynedd, who led a nationwide revolt in 1294-5, defeating English forces in battle near Denbigh and seizing Caernarfon Castle. His revolt was suppressed, however, after the Battle of Maes Moydog in March 1295, and the prince was imprisoned in London.
In the 1370s, Owain Lawgoch, an English-born descendant of one of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's brothers, claimed the title of Prince of Wales, but was assassinated in France in 1378 before he could return to Wales to claim his inheritance.
It is Owain Glyndŵr, however, whom many Welsh people regard as being the last native Prince. On 16 September 1400, he was proclaimed Prince of Wales by his supporters, and held parliaments at Harlech Castle and elsewhere during his revolt, which encompassed all of Wales. It was not until 1409 that his revolt in quest of Welsh independence was suppressed by Henry IV.
The tradition of investing the heir-apparent of the monarch with the title of "Prince of Wales" is usually considered to have begun in 1301, when King Edward I of England invested his son Edward Caernarfon with the title at a Parliament held in Lincoln. According to legend, the king had promised the Welsh that he would name "a prince born in Wales, who did not speak a word of English" and then produced his infant son, who had been born at Caernarfon, to their surprise. However, the story may well be apocryphal, as it can only be traced to the 16th century, and, in the time of Edward I, the English aristocracy spoke Norman French, not English (some versions of the legend include lack of knowledge in both languages as a requirement, and one reported version has the very specific phrase "born on Welsh soil and speaking no other language").
William Camden wrote in his 1607 work Britannia that originally the title "Prince of Wales" was not conferred automatically upon the eldest living son of the King of England because Edward II (who had been the first English Prince of Wales) neglected to invest his eldest son, the future Edward III, with that title. It was Edward III who revived the practice of naming the eldest son Prince of Wales which was then maintained by his successors:
But King Edward the Second conferred not upon his sonne Edward the title of Prince of Wales, but onely the name of Earle of Chester and of Flint, so farre as ever I could learne out of the Records, and by that title summoned him to Parliament, being then nine yeres old. King Edward the Third first created his eldest sonne Edward surnamed the Blacke Prince, the Mirour of Chivalrie (being then Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester), Prince of Wales by solemne investure, with a cap of estate and Coronet set on his head, a gold ring put upon his finger, and a silver vierge delivered into his hand, with the assent of Parliament.[1]
Nevertheless, according to conventional wisdom since 1301 the Prince of Wales has usually been the eldest living son (if and only if he is also the heir-apparent) of the King or Queen Regnant of England (subsequently of Great Britain, 1707, and of the United Kingdom, 1801). That he is also the heir-apparent is important. Following the death of Prince Arthur, the Prince of Wales, Henry VII invested his second son, the future Henry VIII, with the title—although only after it was clear that Arthur's wife, [2] some six years after he became heir-apparent, and had to wait another eleven years for his investiture, on 1 July 1969.[3]
The Principality of Wales, nowadays, is always conferred along with the Earldom of Chester. The convention began in 1399; all previous Princes of Wales also received the earldom, but separately from the Principality. Indeed, before 1272 a hereditary and not necessarily royal Earldom of Chester had already been created several times, eventually merging in the crown each time. The earldom was recreated, merging in the Crown in 1307 and again in 1327. Its creations since have been associated with the creations of the Principality of Wales.
On 31 October 1460,[4] Richard of York was briefly created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall and Lord Protector of England by an Act of Parliament following the Act of Accord, as part of his arrangement to succeed Henry VI as king instead of Henry's own son.[5] However Richard was killed in battle soon afterwards.
As heir apparent to the reigning sovereign, the Prince of Wales bears the Royal Arms differenced by a white label of three points. To represent Wales he bears the Coat of Arms of the Principality of Wales, crowned with the heir-apparent's crown, on an inescutcheon-en-surtout. This was first used by the future King Edward VIII in 1910, and followed by the current Prince of Wales, Prince Charles.[6]
He has a badge of three ostrich feathers (which can be seen on the reverse of the previous design for decimal British two pence coins dated up to 2008); it dates back to the Black Prince and is his as the English heir even before he is made Prince of Wales.
In addition to these symbols used most frequently, he has a special standard for use in Wales itself. Moreover, as Duke of Rothesay he has a special coat of arms for use in Scotland (and a corresponding standard); as Duke of Cornwall the like for use in the Duchy of Cornwall. Representations of all three may be found at List of British flags.
For theories about the origin of the ostrich feather badge and of the motto "Ich dien" (German for "I serve"), see Prince of Wales's feathers.
The Principality of Wales and Duke of Cornwall for more details.
If holder of the Prince George (later George V) were all second sons, and were therefore already Duke of York when they received the Principality of Wales.
Following the reversion of the Earldom of Chester to the Crown, in 1254 Henry III passed the Lordship of Chester (but not the title of Earl) to his son Edward, who as Edward I bestowed the Earldom of Chester on his son Edward when he created him the first Prince of Wales in 1301. The Duchy of Cornwall was first created by Edward III for his son Edward, the Black Prince in 1337.
The Earldom of Carrick merged into the Crown of Scotland with the accession in 1306 of the Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce, who transferred the title to his son David in 1328 (the title became automatically subsidiary to the Dukedom of Rothesay in 1469); the High Stewardship merged into the crown with the accession of Robert, 7th High Steward of Scotland as Robert III in 1371; the Dukedom of Rothesay was created by Robert III of Scotland for his son David in 1398. All three of these titles merged with the Principality in the same person after the personal union of the Scottish and English crowns in 1603 with the accession of James VI of Scotland as James I of England, with the first Prince of Wales to receive them being his son Henry Frederick (subsequently an incorporating union created a single British crown in 1707).
Princes of Wales may be invested, but investiture is not necessary to be created Prince of Wales. Peers were also invested, but investitures for peers ceased in 1621, during a time when peerages were being created so frequently that the investiture ceremony became cumbersome. Most investitures for Princes of Wales were held in front of Parliament, but in 1911, the future Edward VIII was invested in Caernarfon Castle in Wales. The present Prince of Wales was also invested there, in 1969. During the reading of the letters patent creating the Prince, the Honours of the Principality of Wales are delivered to the Prince. The coronet of the heir-apparent bears four-crosses pattée alternating with four fleurs-de-lis, surmounted by a single arch (the Sovereign's crowns are of the same design, but use two arches). A gold rod is also used in the insignia; gold rods were formally used in the investitures of dukes, but survive now in the investitures of Princes of Wales only. Also part of the insignia are a ring, a sword and a robe.
The title Prince of Wales is given only to the heir apparent—that is, somebody who cannot be displaced in the succession to the throne by any future birth. The succession had followed male primogeniture, which meant that the heir apparent was the eldest son of the reigning monarch, or, if he was deceased, his eldest son, and so on, or if the monarch's eldest son had died without issue, the monarch's second eldest son, etc. As such, a daughter of the sovereign who was next in line to the throne was never the "heir apparent" because she would be displaced in the succession by any future legitimate son of the sovereign, and could not therefore take the title.
On 28 October 2011, the leaders of all 16 Commonwealth realms agreed to end the practice of male primogeniture regarding heirs to the throne.[7] The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 was introduced on 12 December 2012, published the next day, and received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013.[8] The change will be implemented simultaneously in all 16 realms after the necessary legislation has been passed in those that need to amend their constitutions. No woman has ever held the title Princess of Wales in her own right, although a female first child may one day hold that title.
Since the title of Prince of Wales is not automatic, there have been times where there was no Prince of Wales. There was no heir apparent during the reign of Princess Elizabeth was heiress presumptive, and was hence not eligible to be titled Princess of Wales. After it became unlikely that George VI would father more children, the option of bestowing the title of Princess of Wales was considered (but ultimately rejected, due in large part to a lack of enthusiasm for the idea from the heiress presumptive herself). There was also no Prince of Wales for the first several years of the reign of Elizabeth II. Prince Charles was not named Prince of Wales until 1958 when he was nine years old.
The title of Princess of Wales has always been held by the Prince's wife in her capacity as spouse of the heir apparent and therefore future queen consort. The current Princess of Wales is Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who automatically assumed the title upon her legal marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales. Camilla however has chosen not to be publicly known by the title due to its association with her predecessor, Diana.
The oldest Prince of Wales (as the English and British heir apparent) at the start of his tenure was George Frederick Ernest Albert, later George V, who was 36 years, 5 months and 6 days old when he assumed the office. HRH The Duke of Cambridge will surpass this record if he is created Prince of Wales any time after 16 November 2018 (two days after his father's 70th birthday).
The longest-serving Prince of Wales was Albert Edward, later Edward VII, who served for 59 years, 1 month and 14 days. Charles Philip Arthur George, the longest-serving heir apparent and current Prince of Wales, will surpass this record if he remains the Prince of Wales until 10 September 2017.
Cheshire, Flintshire, Edward I of England, Macclesfield, History of Cheshire
Duke of Cornwall, Charles, Prince of Wales, Kingdom of Great Britain, Lord of the Isles, James IV of Scotland
Charles, Prince of Wales, Peerage of Scotland, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, South Ayrshire, Northumberland
Edward I of England, Gwynedd, Prince of Wales, Dafydd ap Llywelyn, Dafydd ap Gruffudd
Wales, Primogeniture, Prince of Wales, Merlin, History of Wales
World War I, World War II, Sri Lanka Army, General, Second Boer War