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Prince of Wales

British royal title (formerly a native Welsh title)

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King Charles III created his son, William, Prince of Wales on 9 September 2022, the day after his accession to the throne, with formal letters patent issued on 13 February 2023. The title has become a point of controversy in Wales.

Welsh princes of Wales

Origins to 1283

The first known use of the title "Prince of Wales" was in the 1160s by Owain Gwynedd, ruler of Gwynedd, in a letter to Louis VII of France. In the 12th century, Wales was a patchwork of Anglo-Norman Lordships and native Welsh principalities – notably Deheubarth, Powys and Gwynedd – competing among themselves for hegemony. Owain's aim in using the title in his letter to Louis was probably to claim pre-eminence over the other native Welsh rulers.

Following Owain's death in 1170 no other ruler, with the exception of Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth, is known to have adopted the title until 1245. Rhys used several titles, sometimes concurrently, and in two charters from the 1180s he is referred to as "Prince of Wales" or "Prince of the Welsh". The title was revived in 1245 when Dafydd ap Llywelyn, ruler of Gwynedd, began using it in the final months of his reign. In the intervening years, Owen Gwynedd's successors in Gwynedd, including Dafydd, had, instead, adopted the titles "Prince of North Wales" or "Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of Snowdon".

However, it was in the reign of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Dafydd's nephew and successor in Gwynedd, that the title is consistently used over an extended period. From 1262 to his death in 1282, Llywelyn used no other style except 'Prince of Wales and Lord of Snowdon'. This was accompanied by Llywelyn making the Principality of Wales (encompassing Gwynedd, Deheubarth, Powys and parts of the Marches) a political reality. He had achieved this by significantly expanding his directly ruled territories into Mid- and South Wales and inducing all the other remaining native Welsh rulers to do him homage and acknowledge him as overlord by 1263. Additionally, Llywelyn developed governance structures which made his authority effective across the entire Principality of Wales, including in the territories of the Welsh rulers that owed him allegiance. The significance of these developments was marked by Henry III of England recognising Llywelyn's title and authority in the Treaty of Montgomery of 1267. As J. Beverley Smith has noted, his title "at once, acknowledged and proclaimed a status unique in Welsh political history".

Llywelyn's principality was destroyed as a result of the conquest of Wales by Edward I between 1277 and 1283, during which Llywelyn was killed in 1282. After his death, his brother, Dafydd, adopted Llywelyn's title and continued resistance for a few months. However, Dafydd was defeated and executed in 1283 and the principality was permanently annexed by Edward I.

Post-conquest claimants

In the fourteenth century, two pretenders to the title of 'Prince of Wales' attempted to make good their claims: Owain Lawgoch, a descendant of the Princes of Gwynedd, and Owain Glyndŵr, whose ancestors included the former rulers of Powys and Deheubarth. Owain Lawgoch's abortive attempt at invading Wales in 1372 was followed by Glyndŵr's much more serious revolt beginning in 1400.

Glyndŵr's rebellion commenced with his supporters proclaiming him Prince of Wales. However, it is unclear how important this was in his initial objectives, given that his immediate motivation appears to have been a personal grievance with a neighbouring English Lord. By 1401, he had effectively dropped his claim to the title. But, with the rebellion's military successes of 1402–1403 and the growth in his support in Wales, he became more ambitious. In 1404, he had himself crowned as Prince of Wales, and he launched plans to create the state institutions of a new principality. This phase of the revolt was short-lived, however. By 1406, the rebellion began to fail militarily, and, from 1409, Glyndŵr had to exchange the trappings of a ruling prince for those of a hunted outlaw. He died in obscurity, probably around 1415.

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