ROYAL WALES
Royal Wales
Deborah Fisher
© Deborah Fisher, 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-7083-2214-7
e-ISBN 978-1-7831-6427-1
The right of Deborah Fisher to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Cover image: The Arrival of Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon at Ludlow Castle in December 1501, by Paul Workman © Trustees of the Powis Castle Estate
Cover design: Dalen (Llyfrau)
This book is dedicated to the memory of my dear uncle, Ray Woodward (1923–2010)
Contents
Prologue
Family Trees
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Kings of Wales
Normans
Royal Blood
Welsh Pretenders: Owain Lawgoch and Owain Glyndŵr
The Wars of the Roses
Welsh Royalists
The Path to Constitutional Monarchy
Victorians and Edwardians
Residence in Wales
The Legacy
Today and Tomorrow
Select Bibliography
In 2007, a plaque was presented to the Snowdonia Society for placement in the new visitor centre at the summit of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. In the Welsh language, Snowdon is called Yr Wyddfa (meaning ‘the tumulus’) and Snowdonia is Eryri, the ‘lair of eagles’. The medieval princes of Gwynedd called themselves lords of Snowdonia, and even today Baron Snowdon is a lesser royal title (currently held by Prince Philip).
The newly carved plaque was donated by the Princess Gwenllian Society, a flourishing group that aims to preserve the memory of Princess Gwenllian (1282–1337), daughter of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. The dispossessed princess spent most of her life cloistered in a convent in Lincolnshire, courtesy of Edward Longshanks. The Snowdonia National Parks Authority had reservations about the placing of the plaque, however. Perhaps, with its ‘official’ status, the authority did not wish to be associated with anything that smacked of nationalism.
Princess Gwenllian is regarded by many as the last member of the last ‘true’ royal family of Wales, and as such may be seen a figurehead for believers in independence. Yet, even if we temporarily disregard Owain Glyndŵr (who has a society of his own to look after his interests), we will find that Gwenllian was hardly the last of her line. The royal blood she inherited from both parents, a rich mixture of English and Welsh, is to be found in others who survived. Her uncle Rhodri has many surviving direct descendants, as have her great-aunts Gwladus and Elen. That same blood has run through the veins of every British monarch since Wales became part of ‘Great’ Britain and, later, the United Kingdom.
1. Plaque commemorating Gwenllian, last of the royal line of Gwynedd.
2. St Winifred, the Welsh princess whose relics were removed from Holywell to Shrewsbury Abbey, where a window now commemorates her.
3. St David’s Cathedral, one of the oldest places of Christian worship in Britain, represented a challenge for William the Conqueror.
4. The tomb of Roger de Montgomery, Norman earl of Shrewsbury, a key figure in the English Crown’s campaign to dominate Wales.
5. Caernarfon Castle, where Queen Eleanor gave birth to the first ‘English’ prince of Wales in 1284.
6. Conway Castle, a lavish royal residence for King Edward I but a less comfortable resting-place for his great-great-grandson King Richard II.
7. The town of Monmouth still takes pride in the achievements of its favourite son, King Henry V of England.
8. Tredegar House, looking much as it did when the Morgan family entertained King Charles I here in 1645.
9. Demonstrating that mass-produced royal souvenirs are not a modern phenomenon, this jug commemorates the silver wedding of the prince
