Prince Harry
Prince Harry at the Official Press Launch for Walking With The Wounded, 1 March 2010.
Full name
Henry Charles Albert David
House	House of Windsor
Father	Charles, Prince of Wales
Mother	Diana, Princess of Wales
Born	(1984-09-15) 15 September 1984 (age 27) St Mary's Hospital, London
Religion	Church of England

Prince Henry of Wales (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984), commonly known as Prince Harry,^[1] is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales, and fourth grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As such, he is third in the line of succession (behind his father and elder brother) to the thrones of sixteen independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms. Consequently, as heir to the British throne, specifically, he is also third in line, again behind his father and elder brother, to the position Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

After an education at various schools around the United Kingdom and spending parts of his gap year in Australia and Lesotho, Harry, unlike his elder brother, Prince William, eschewed a university education in favour of following in the footsteps of various royal men by enrolling in the military. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry Regiment—serving temporarily with his brother—and completed his training as a tank commander. He served for 77 days on the front line in the Afghan War,^[2] although he was pulled out following publication of the story in an Australian magazine.^[3]

Early life[link]

The Royal Family of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms
HM The Queen HRH The Duke of Edinburgh HRH The Prince of Wales HRH The Duchess of Cornwall HRH The Duke of Cambridge HRH The Duchess of Cambridge HRH Prince Harry of Wales HRH The Duke of York HRH Princess Beatrice of York HRH Princess Eugenie of York HRH The Earl of Wessex HRH The Countess of Wessex Viscount Severn Lady Louise Windsor HRH The Princess Royal HRH The Duke of Gloucester HRH The Duchess of Gloucester HRH The Duke of Kent HRH The Duchess of Kent HRH Prince Michael of Kent HRH Princess Michael of Kent HRH Princess Alexandra Sarah, Duchess of York
v t e

Harry was born at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, England, on 15 September 1984. He was baptised at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, by then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. Harry's godparents were Prince Andrew (his paternal uncle); Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (his paternal cousin once removed); Lady Vestey; Mrs. William Bartholomew; Bryan Organ; and Gerald Ward.^[4]

Persistent suggestions, based on a similarity of hair colour, have been made that Harry's father is not Charles but James Hewitt, with whom Diana had an affair. However, red hair is known to be a Spencer family trait, and Hewitt stated to the press in 2002 that Harry had already been born by the time his affair with Diana began, a statement corroborated by Diana's police bodyguard.^[5][6]

There really is no possibility whatsoever that I am Harry's father. I can absolutely assure you that I am not…I can understand the interest but Harry was already walking by the time my relationship with Diana began. Admittedly the red hair is similar to mine and people say we look alike. I have never encouraged these comparisons and although I was with Diana for a long time I must state once and for all that I'm not Harry's father.

—James Hewitt^[7]

Diana wanted William and Harry to have a broader range of experiences than previous royal children and took both to venues that ranged from Disney World and McDonald's to AIDS clinics and shelters for the homeless.^[8] Diana, Princess of Wales, who was by then divorced from the Prince of Wales, died in a car collision in 1997. Harry, his brother and their father were staying at Balmoral Castle at the time, and the Prince of Wales waited until early the following morning to tell his sons about their mother's death.^[9] At his mother's funeral, Harry accompanied his father, brother, paternal grandfather, and maternal uncle in walking behind the funeral cortège from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey.^[10]

Education[link]

Like his father and elder brother, Harry was educated at public schools, starting at Jane Mynors' nursery school^[11] and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School, both in London. Following this, he attended Ludgrove School, and, after passing the entrance exams, was admitted to Eton College, where he studied geography, art history, and art at A-Level. The decision to place Harry in Eton went against the family tradition of sending royal children to Gordonstoun (Harry's grandfather, father, two uncles, and two cousins all attended); it did, however, make the Prince follow in the Spencer family footsteps, as both Diana's father and brother had attended Eton.^[8] In June 2003, he completed his education at Eton with two A-Levels^[12] having decided to drop history of art after AS level.^[13] He excelled in sports, particularly polo and rugby union.^{[citation needed]}.

After graduation, Harry took a gap year, during which he spent time in Australia, working (as his father had done in his youth) on a cattle station and participating in the Young England vs Young Australia Polo Test Match.^[14] He also travelled to Lesotho, where he worked with orphaned children and produced the documentary film The Forgotten Kingdom.^[8]

Royal duties and career[link]

Prince Harry began to accompany his parents on official visits at an early age; his first overseas royal tour was with his parents to Italy in 1985.^[15] The earlier decision made by the Princess of Wales to take an infant William to Australia set the precedent for young royal children going on official visits.^[8] Harry then accompanied either both parents or his father on subsequent tours, though he did not begin solo official engagements until after his military training and active service. In August 1995, at the age of 10, Prince Harry attended the 50th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day at the Cenotaph in London. There he saluted the officers in the military parade, one of the most important ceremonies in the royal family agenda. In 2008, he began to undertake royal visits to schools and organisations in Wales.^[16]

Military career[link]

Prince Harry entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 8 May 2005, where he was known as Officer Cadet Wales, and joined the Alamein Company.^[17] Within a year, in April 2006, Harry completed his officer's training and was commissioned as a Cornet in the Blues and Royals, a regiment of the Household Cavalry in the British Army.^[18] By April 2008, whereupon he reached two years' seniority, Harry was promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

Officer Cadet Wales (standing to attention next to the horse) on parade at Sandhurst, 21 June 2005

The British Ministry of Defence and Clarence House made a joint announcement on 22 February 2007 that Prince Harry would be deployed with his regiment to the front line in Iraq, to serve as part of the 1st Mechanised Brigade of the 3rd Mechanised Division – a move supported by Harry, who had stated that he would leave the army if he was told to remain in safety while his regiment went to war;^[19] he said: "There's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country."^[20] Then head of the British army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, first said on 30 April 2007 that he had personally decided that the Prince would serve with his unit in Iraq,^[21] and Harry was scheduled for deployment in May or June 2007, to patrol the Maysan province.^[22] By 16 May, however, Dannatt announced that Prince Harry would not serve in Iraq;^[23] concerns included Harry being a high-value target (as several threats by various groups have already been made against him) and the dangers the soldiers around him would face should any attempt be made on the Prince's life or capture. Clarence House made public the Prince's disappointment with the decision, though he said he would abide by it.^[24] In May 2007, British soldiers in Iraq were reported to be wearing t-shirts bearing the statement "I'm Harry!"; a reference to the scene in the movie Spartacus in which the survivors of Spartacus's army, defeated by Roman legions, are offered leniency by Crassus if they will identify their leader. Every survivor declares: "I'm Spartacus!"^[25]

It was reported, in early June 2007, that Prince Harry had arrived in Canada to train, alongside soldiers of the Canadian Forces and British Army, at Canadian Forces base Suffield, near Medicine Hat, Alberta. It was said that this was in preparation for a tour of duty in Afghanistan, where Canadian and British forces were participating in the NATO led Afghan War;^[26] rumours that were confirmed in February the following year, when the British Ministry of Defence revealed that Harry had secretly been deployed as a Forward Air Controller to Helmand Province in the Asian country.^[27] The revelation came after the media – notably, the German newspaper Bild and Australian magazine New Idea^[28][29] – breached the blackout placed over the information by the Canadian and British authorities.^[30] It was later reported that, while in Afghanistan, Harry had called in United States Air Force air strikes,^[31] helped Gurkha troops repel an attack from Taliban insurgents,^[32] and performed patrol duty in hostile areas.^[33] His tour came 735 years after his ancestor, Edward I of England (then Prince Edward), had also been on military duty in the Middle East during the Ninth crusade,^[34] and also made Harry the first member of the Royal Family to have served in a war zone since his uncle, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, flew helicopters during the Falklands War. For his service, Prince Harry was decorated with the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan by his aunt, the Princess Royal, at the Combermere Barracks in May 2008.^[35]

In October 2008, the news was revealed that Prince Harry was to follow his brother, father, and uncle with the wish to fly military helicopters. After passing the initial aptitude test, he was to undertake a month-long course; depending on whether or not he passed that course he would proceed onto full flight training in early 2009.^[36] Harry had to pass his flying assessment at the Army Air Corps Base (AAC), Middle Wallop, the result of which determined if he would pass on to train as a pilot of either the Apache, Lynx, or Gazelle helicopter.^[37]

Prince Harry was presented with his flying brevet (wings) by his father, on 7 May 2010 at a ceremony at the Army Air Corps Base (AAC), Middle Wallop. Prince Harry had also let it be known that he intended to fly Apache attack helicopters if he was successful in passing the rigorous Apache training course; after which time it could be possible for him to see active military service once again on the frontline in one of the warzones.^[38] During the ceremony, he switched his Blues and Royals' Officer's Service Dress cap for that of the Army Air Corps' sky blue beret with a Blues and Royals badge.

Prince Harry greeting people, 28 April 2011

On 10 March 2011, it was revealed that Prince Harry had passed his Apache flying test and he was awarded his Apache Flying Badge on 14 April 2011. There is speculation that he shall return to Afghanistan once again before the withdrawal in 2015. On 16 April 2011 it was announced that Prince Harry had been promoted to the Army rank of Captain after having held the rank of Lieutenant since 2008.^[39]

In June 2011, Clarence House announced that Prince Harry on completion of his training conversion course to use Apache helicopters in the war arena would be available for deployment, including in current operations in Afghanistan in his role as an Apache helicopter pilot. The final decision will ultimately rest with the Ministry of Defence's senior commanders including principally the Chief of the Defence Staff in consultation with the wishes of Harry, his father the Prince of Wales and The Queen.^[40] In October, Prince Harry was transferred to a US military base in California to complete his helicopter gunship training. This final phase will include live-fire training as well as "environmental and judgment training" at naval and air force facilities in California and Arizona. The majority of those completing the two-month Apache training are deployed to the front lines in Afghanistan.^[41] In the same month it was reported that Prince Harry was said to be a natural pilot who was reportedly top of his class in the extensive training he had undertaken at the Naval Air Facility, El Centro, California.^[42] On November 2011, Prince Harry returned to England from military training in the United States. Next, he will head to Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk, southeast England, to complete his training to fly Apache helicopters.^[43]

Royal duties[link]

Royal Monogram

At the age of 21, Prince Harry was appointed as a Counsellor of State, and began his royal duties by first serving in that capacity when the Queen was abroad to attend the 2005 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta. The following year, Harry was in Lesotho to visit again Mants'ase Children's Home near Mohale's Hoek (which he first toured in 2004), and along with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho launched Sentebale: The Princes' Fund for Lesotho, a charity to aid children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. He has also granted his patronage to a number of other organisations, including WellChild, Dolen Cymru, and MapAction.^[44] To aid Sentebale, as well as the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Centrepoint, Harry and his brother organised the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium, on 1 July 2007.

Sports have also been a way that Harry has helped charities and other organisations, such as when he trained as a Rugby Development Officer for the Rugby Football Union in 2004 and then coached students in schools in order to encourage them to learn the sport. He has also participated in polo matches, like his brother and father, in order to raise money for charitable causes.^[14]

On 6 January 2009, Harry and his brother Prince William were granted their own royal household by their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. It has three main staff members, supported by a "small" team. Sir David Manning, the former British ambassador to Washington, will work as a part-time adviser to the princes. Previously, William and Harry's affairs had been handled by the office of their father at Clarence House in central London. The brothers' new household released a statement – complete with their own cyphers at the top – announcing that they have established their own office at nearby St. James's Palace to look after their public, military and charitable activities.^[45] Harry's cypher is similar to his brother's, but displays an H in a shade of blue similar to that used by his mother. In September, Prince William and Prince Harry set up The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry to enable The Princes to take forward their charitable ambitions.The Foundation is the culmination of The Princes’ charitable lives so far.^[46][47][48]

Prince Harry (on left) with Prince William in 2009

In March 2012, Prince Harry led an official visit to Belize as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.^[49][50] He continued to the Bahamas and Jamaica, where the current Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller is considering severing ties between Jamaica and the constitutional monarchy, ^[51] During his visit to Jamaica, he stayed at a private five-bedroom, two-story villa with a private pool and beach access at Half Moon, A RockResort (a place that since the 1980s has been popular with the British Royal Family), located on Jamaica's North Coast near Montego Bay, and reportedly interacted well with the staff there, displaying his late mother's ability to relate to different groups of people.^[52]

Personal life and relationships[link]

Prince Harry enjoys playing many sporting activities, playing competitive polo, as well as skiing and motocross.^[14] Harry also earned a reputation in his youth for being rebellious, leading the tabloid press to label him as a "wild child".^[53] He was found at age 17 smoking cannabis and partaking in under-age drinking with his friends, would clash physically with paparazzi outside nightclubs,^[53] and was photographed at Highgrove House at a "Colonial and Native" themed costume party wearing a Nazi German Afrika Korps uniform with a swastika armband.^[54] He later issued a public statement apologising for his behaviour.^[55]

Prince Harry is a supporter of Arsenal Football Club.^[56]

In January 2009, the British tabloid News of the World revealed a video made by Harry three years previously, in which he referred to a Pakistani fellow officer cadet as "our little Paki friend" and later called a soldier wearing a cloth on his head a "raghead". These terms were described by David Cameron as "unacceptable",^[57] and by The Daily Telegraph as "racist",^[57] and a British Muslim youth organisation called the Prince a "thug",^[58] a statement that was later retracted.^[59] Clarence House immediately issued an apology from Harry, who stated that no malice was intended in his remarks.^[60] A former British MP and Royal Marine, Rod Richards, said that such nicknames were common amongst military comrades, stating "in the Armed Forces people often used to call me Taffy. Others were called Yankie, Oz or Kiwi or whatever. I consider Paki as an abbreviation for Pakistani. I don't think on this occasion it was intended to be offensive."^[61] It later emerged that Prince Harry had personally apologised to the soldier.^[62]

While Harry's personal relationships have not been followed as much as those of his brother, most media attention has been focused on his relationship with Chelsy Davy. In an interview conducted for his 21st birthday, Harry referred to Davy as his girlfriend, and the press reported at that time that the couple had been together for 18 months, contradicting earlier reports that they were no longer together.^[63] Harry and Davy were also seen together publicly at the Concert for Diana. Chelsy also accompanied Harry to the wedding of Harry's cousin, Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly in May 2008, where she was introduced to the Queen for the first time. But, in early 2009 it was reported in the media that the pair had parted ways.^[64] Later that year the pair were photographed together at a rugby match, seemingly going public again with their relationship.^[65] As of 2010, Harry and Davy are no longer together following Davy's departure from England. In 2011, Harry confirmed the rumors by proclaiming himself "100 per cent single". ^[66]

Titles, styles, honours and arms[link]

Titles and styles[link]

Royal styles of Prince Harry of Wales
Reference style	His Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Sir

• 15 September 1984 – present: His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales

The Prince's style and title in full is His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales. As a British prince, Harry holds no surname; however, as with the other male-line grandchildren of Elizabeth II, he uses the name of the area over which his father holds title; i.e., Wales. Past precedent is that such surnames are dropped from usage in adulthood, after which either title alone, or Mountbatten-Windsor is used when necessary.^[67] Prince Harry, however, continues to use Wales as his surname for military purposes and is known as Captain Harry Wales in such contexts.^[68] If his father succeeds to the throne he will be known as His Royal Highness The Prince Henry. Traditionally, male-line members of British royalty receive a dukedom a few hours before their marriage, the most recent being Prince William of Wales, who became Duke of Cambridge.

Military ranks[link]

• 13 April 2006 – 13 April 2008: Cornet (Second Lieutenant), The Blues and Royals^[18]
• 13 April 2008 – 16 April 2011: Lieutenant, The Blues and Royals^[69]
• Since 16 April 2011: Captain, The Blues and Royals attached to Army Air Corps^[39]

Honours[link]

See also List of honours of the British Royal Family by country

Appointments

• 6 March 2012 – : Honorary Fellow of the University of the West Indies^[70]

Medals

• 6 February 2002: Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
• 5 May 2008: Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan^[35]
• 6 February 2012: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal

Honorary military appointments[link]

Canada

• 10 November 2009 – : Canadian Ranger^[71]

United Kingdom

• 3 October 2008 – : Honorary Air Commandant of RAF Honington^[72]
• 8 August 2006 – : Commodore-in-Chief of Small Ships and Diving^[73]

Arms[link]

Arms of Prince Harry of Wales Notes On his 18th birthday, Prince Harry was granted his own personal coat of arms, consisting of the arms of the sovereign in right of the United Kingdom with a label for difference. Adopted 15 September 2002 Escutcheon Quarterly 1st and 4th gules three lions passant guardant in pale or armed and langed azure 2nd or a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure within a double tressure flory counterflory of the second 3rd azure a harp or stringed argent Other elements The whole differenced by a Label of five points Argent the first, third and fifth points charged with an Escallop Gules Symbolism As the grandchild of the sovereign, Prince Harry's coat of arms has a label of five points. The escallops (seashells) allude to his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, whose Spencer coat of arms includes three escallops argent.

Ancestry[link]

Through his maternal grandfather, Prince Harry is descended from King Henry IV of France, King Charles II and King James II and VII. Through his mother, both from The Earl Spencer and The Baron Fermoy Families, Harry is of English, Scottish, American descent and of remote Irish descent.

Prince Harry is descended from the kings and queens of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom with surviving offspring from William I.^[74] He is also descended from many of the pre-Union monarchs of Scotland and the pre-Conquest monarchs of England. Through his paternal grandfather, he is also a descendant of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia.

See also[link]

• British prince
• British Royal Family
• Canadian Royal Family
• Line of succession to the British Throne
• Genealogy of the British Royal Family

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Prince Henry of Wales

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Prince Henry of Wales

• Prince Harry's eulogy to Princess Diana delivered on 31 August 2007
• Prince Harry's interview with NBC's Matt Lauer
• Royal.gov.uk – Prince Harry^{[dead link]}
• Prince Harry at His Hottest – slideshow by Life magazine
• Personal Profile – Prince Harry – From Prince of Wales official Site
• Illustrated biography of Prince Harry
• Prince Harry Not Going to Iraq on Time.com (a division of Time Magazine)
• Prince Harry of Wales at the Internet Movie Database

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v t e Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall Titles Princess of Wales and Countess of Chester Duchess of Cornwall Duchess of Rothesay Countess of Carrick Baroness of Renfrew Lady of the Isles Princess of Scotland Family Andrew Parker Bowles (first husband) Tom Parker Bowles (son) Laura Lopes (daughter) Charles, Prince of Wales (second husband) Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (elder stepson) Prince Harry of Wales (younger stepson) Bruce Shand (father) Rosalind Shand (mother) Annabel Elliot (sister) Mark Shand (brother) Events Second wedding

v t e Prince William, Duke of Cambridge Titles Duke of Cambridge Earl of Strathearn Baron Carrickfergus Family Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (wife) Charles, Prince of Wales (father) Diana, Princess of Wales (mother) Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (stepmother) Prince Harry of Wales (brother) Michael Middleton (father-in-law) Carole Middleton (mother-in-law) Pippa Middleton (sister-in-law) James Middleton (brother-in-law) Events Concert for Diana Wedding guests bridal gown 2011 Canadian Tour Miscellaneous Rosa 'Royal William' William & Kate William & Catherine: A Royal Romance Engagement announcement dress of Kate Middleton

Wales Cymru[nb 1]
Flag
Motto: Cymru am byth (English: Wales for ever)
Anthem: Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (English: Land of my fathers)
Location of  Wales  (dark green) – in the European continent  (light green & dark grey) – in the United Kingdom  (light green)
Capital (and largest city)		Cardiff (Caerdydd) 51°29′N 3°11′W / 51.483°N 3.183°W / 51.483; -3.183
Official languages		Welsh, English
Demonym		Welsh (Cymry)
Government		Devolved Government in a Constitutional monarchy
-	Monarch	Elizabeth II
-	First Minister	Carwyn Jones AM
-	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	David Cameron MP
-	Secretary of State (in the UK government)	Cheryl Gillan MP
Legislature		UK Parliament and National Assembly for Wales
Unification
-	by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn[1]	1057
Area
-	Total	20,779 km2  8,022 sq mi
Population
-	mid 2010 estimate	3,006,400
-	2001 census	2,903,085
-	Density	140/km2  361/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2006 (for national statistics) estimate
-	Total	US$85.4 billion
-	Per capita	US$30,546
Currency		Pound sterling (GBP)
Time zone		GMT (UTC0)
-	Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
Date formats		dd/mm/yyyy (AD or CE)
Drives on the		left
ISO 3166 code		GB
Internet TLD		.uk[nb 2]
Calling code		44
Patron saint		Saint David, Dewi Sant

Wales ⁱ/ˈweɪlz/ (Welsh: Cymru;^[2] Welsh pronunciation: [ˈkəm.rɨ] ( listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain,^[3] bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km² (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,200 km (750 mi) of coastline, including its offshore islands; the largest, Anglesey (Ynys Môn), is also the largest island in the Irish Sea. Wales is largely mountainous, with its highest peaks in the north and central areas, especially in Snowdonia (Eryri), which contains Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit.

During the Iron Age and early medieval period, Wales was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. A distinct Welsh national identity emerged in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations today. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was recognised as King of Wales in 1057. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales. The castles and town walls erected to ensure its permanence are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to what was to become modern Wales, in the early 15th century. Wales was subsequently annexed by England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 since when, excluding those matters now devolved to Wales, English law has been the legal system of Wales and England. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century; Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and The Welsh Language Society in 1962. The National Assembly for Wales, created in 1999 following a referendum, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters.

Wales lies within the north temperate zone, its changeable, maritime climate making it one of the wettest countries in Europe. It was an agricultural society for most of its early history, the country's terrain making arable farming secondary to pastoral farming, the primary source of Wales' wealth. In the 18th century, the introduction of the slate and metallurgical industries, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, began to transform the country into an industrial nation; the UNESCO World Heritage Sites Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape date from that period. The south Wales coalfield's exploitation in the Victorian era caused a rapid expansion of the Welsh population. Two-thirds of Wales' three million population live in south Wales, mainly in and around the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Another concentration live in eastern north Wales. Cardiff, Wales' capital, is the country's most populous city, with 317,500 residents, and for a period was the biggest coal port in the world. Today, with the country's traditional heavy industries (coal, steel, copper, tinplate and slate) either gone or in decline, Wales' economy depends on the public sector, light and service industries, and tourism.

Although Wales shares a close political and social history with the rest of Great Britain, it has retained a distinct cultural identity. Wales is officially bilingual, the Welsh and English languages having equal status. The Welsh language is an important element of Welsh culture, and its use is supported by national policy. Over 580,000 Welsh speakers live in Wales, more than 20% of the population. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", attributable in part to the revival of the eisteddfod tradition. At international sporting events, such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, Wales is represented by national teams regulated and organised by over fifty national governing bodies of sports in Wales. At the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete as part of a Great Britain team. Although association football has traditionally been the more popular sport in north Wales, rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness.

Etymology[link]

Etymology of Wales[link]

The Anglo-Saxon word for 'foreign' or 'foreigner' was Waelisc and a 'foreign(er's) land' was called Wēalas. The modern English forms of these words with respect to the modern country are Welsh (the people) and Wales (the land), respectively.

Historically in Britain the words were not restricted to modern Wales or to the Welsh but were used indiscriminately to refer to anything that the Anglo-Saxons associated with Celtic Britons, including other foreign lands (e.g., Cornwall), places once associated with Celtic Britons (e.g., Walworth in County Durham and Walton in West Yorkshire),^[4] the surnames of people (e.g., Walsh and Wallace) and various other things that were once new and foreign to the Anglo-Saxons (e.g., the walnut). None of these historic usages is necessarily connected to Wales or the Welsh.

The Anglo-Saxon words are derived from the same Germanic root (singular Walh, plural Walha), applied to Italic and Celtic peoples and places, that has provided modern names for Continental lands (e.g., Wallonia and Wallachia)^[5] and peoples (e.g., the Vlachs via a borrowing into Old Church Slavonic),^[6][7][8] none of which has any connection to Wales or the Welsh.

Etymology of Cymru[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Moliant Cadwallon

The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is Welsh for "Land of the Cymry". The etymological origin of Cymry is from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning "fellow-countrymen".^[9] The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the post-Roman Era relationship of the Welsh with the Brythonic-speaking peoples of northern England and southern Scotland, the peoples of "Yr Hen Ogledd" (English: The Old North). In its original use, it amounted to a self-perception that the Welsh and the "Men of the North" were one people, exclusive of all others.^[10] In particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to both the Welsh and the Men of the North. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century.^[11] It is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan ("Moliant Cadwallon", by Afan Ferddig) c. 633.^[12] In Welsh literature, the word Cymry was used throughout the Middle Ages to describe the Welsh, though the older, more generic term Brythoniaid continued to be used to describe any of the Britonnic peoples (including the Welsh) and was the more common literary term until c. 1100. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh. Until c. 1560 Cymry was used indiscriminately to mean either the people or their homeland.^[9]

The Latinised forms of these names are Cambrian or Cambric (meaning "Welsh") and Cambria (meaning "Wales"). They survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh and the Welsh people. Examples include the Cambrian Mountains (which cover most of Wales), the newspaper "Cambrian News", as well as the organisations Cambrian Airways, Cambrian Railways and Cambrian Archaeological Association. Outside Wales, this form survives as the name of Cumbria in North West England, which was once a part of "Yr Hen Ogledd". This form also appears at times in literary references, perhaps most notably in the pseudohistorical "Historia Regum Britanniae" of Geoffrey of Monmouth, where the character of Camber is described as the eponymous King of Cymru.

History[link]

Prehistoric origins[link]

Bryn Celli Ddu
a late Neolithic chambered tomb on Anglesey

Wales has been inhabited by modern humans for at least 29,000 years.^[13] Continuous human habitation dates from the end of the last ice age, between 12,000 and 10,000 years before present (BP), when Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from central Europe began to migrate to Great Britain. At that time sea levels were much lower than today, and the shallower parts of what is now the North Sea were dry land. The east coast of present day England and the coasts of present day Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands were connected by the former landmass known as Doggerland, forming the British Peninsula on the European mainland. Wales was free of glaciers by about 10,250 BP, the warmer climate allowing the area to become heavily wooded. The post-glacial rise in sea level separated Wales and Ireland, forming the Irish Sea. Doggerland was submerged by the North Sea and, by 8,000 BP, the British Peninsula had become an island.^[14][15] By the beginning of the Neolithic (c. 6,000 BP) sea levels in the Bristol Channel were still about 33 feet (10 metres) lower than today.^[16][17][18] John Davies has theorised that the story of Cantre'r Gwaelod's drowning and tales in the Mabinogion, of the waters between Wales and Ireland being narrower and shallower, may be distant folk memories of this time.^[19]

Neolithic colonists integrated with the indigenous people, gradually changing their lifestyles from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering, to become settled farmers about 6,000 BP – the Neolithic Revolution.^[19][20] They cleared the forests to establish pasture and to cultivate the land, developed new technologies such as ceramics and textile production, and built cromlechs such as Pentre Ifan, Bryn Celli Ddu and Parc Cwm long cairn between about 5,500 BP and 5,800 BP.^{[21][22][23][24]} In common with people living all over Great Britain, over the following centuries the people living in what was to become known as Wales assimilated immigrants and exchanged ideas of the Bronze Age and Iron Age Celtic cultures. According to John T. Koch and others, Wales in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture that also included the other Celtic nations, England, France, Spain and Portugal where Celtic languages developed.^{[25][26][27][28][29]} By the time of the Roman invasion of Britain the area of modern Wales had been divided among the tribes of the Deceangli, Ordovices, Cornovii, Demetae and Silures for centuries.^[19]

Roman era[link]

The Roman conquest of Wales began in AD 48 and took 30 years to complete. Roman rule lasted over 300 years. The campaigns of conquest are the most widely known feature of Wales during the Roman era, due to the spirited, but ultimately unsuccessful, defence of their homelands by two native tribes: the Silures and the Ordovices. Roman rule in Wales was a military occupation, save for the southern coastal region of South Wales, east of the Gower Peninsula, where there is a legacy of Romanisation.^[30] The only town in Wales founded by the Romans, Caerwent, is in South Wales. Both Caerwent and Carmarthen, also in southern Wales, became Roman civitates.^[31] Wales had a rich mineral wealth. The Romans used their engineering technology to extract large amounts of gold, copper and lead, as well as modest amounts of some other metals such as zinc and silver.^[32] Roman economic development was concentrated in south-eastern Britain, and no significant industries located in Wales.^[32] This was largely a matter of circumstance, as Wales had none of the necessary materials in suitable combination, and the forested, mountainous countryside was not amenable to industrialisation. Although Latin became the official language of Wales, the people tended to continue to speak in Brythonic. While Romanisation was far from complete, the upper classes of Wales began to consider themselves Roman, particularly after the ruling of 212 that granted Roman citizenship to all free men throughout the Empire.^[33] Further Roman influence came through the spread of Christianity, which gained many followers after Christians were allowed to worship freely in 313.^[33]

Coin of
Magnus Maximus

Early historians, including the 6th century cleric Gildas, have noted 383 as a significant point in Welsh history,^[34] as it is stated in literature as the foundation point of several medieval royal dynasties. In that year the Roman general Magnus Maximus, or Macsen Wledig, stripped all of western and northern Britain of troops and senior administrators, to launch a successful bid for imperial power; continuing to rule Britain from Gaul as Emperor.^[35][36] Gildas, writing in about 540, says that Maximus left Britain not only with all of its Roman troops, but also with all of its armed bands, governors, and the flower of its youth, never to return. Having left with the troops and Roman administrators, and planning to continue as the ruler of Britain in the future, his practical course was to transfer local authority to local rulers. The earliest Welsh genealogies give Maximus the role of founding father for several royal dynasties, including those of Powys and Gwent.^[37][38] It was this transfer of power that has given rise to the belief that he was the father of the Welsh Nation.^[34] He is given as the ancestor of a Welsh king on the Pillar of Eliseg, erected nearly 500 years after he left Britain, and he figures in lists of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales.^[39]

Post-Roman era[link]

Britain in AD 500: The areas shaded pink on the map were inhabited by the Celtic Britons, here labelled as Welsh. The pale blue areas in the east were controlled by Germanic tribes–the pale green areas to the north were inhabited by the Gaels and Picts.

The 400 years following the collapse of Roman rule is the most difficult to interpret in the history of Wales.^[33] After the Roman departure from Britain in 410, much of the lowlands of Britain to the east and south-east were overrun by various Germanic peoples. Before extensive studies of the distribution of R1b Y-DNA subclades, some used to maintain that native Britons were displaced by the invaders.^[40] This idea has been discarded in the face of evidence that the population has, mainly, at latest Hallstatt era origins, but probably late Neolithic, or at earliest Mesolithic origins with little contribution from Anglo-Saxon source areas.^[41] However, by 500 AD, the land that would become Wales had divided into a number of kingdoms free from Anglo-Saxon rule.^[33] The kingdoms of Gwynedd, Powys, Dyfed and Seisyllg, Morgannwg and Gwent emerged as independent Welsh successor states.^[33] Archaeological evidence, in the Low Countries and what was to become England, shows early Anglo-Saxon migration to Great Britain reversed between 500 to 550, which concurs with Frankish chronicles.^[42] John Davies notes this as consistent with the British victory at Badon Hill, attributed to Arthur by Nennius.^[42] This tenacious survival by the Romano-Britons and their descendants in the western kingdoms was to become the foundation of what we now know as Wales. With the loss of the lowlands, England's kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria, and later Wessex, wrestled with Powys, Gwent and Gwynedd to define the frontier between the two peoples.

Having lost much of what is now the West Midlands to Mercia in the 6th and early 7th centuries, a resurgent late-seventh-century Powys checked Mercian advancement. Aethelbald of Mercia, looking to defend recently acquired lands, had built Wat's Dyke. According to John Davies, this endeavour may have been with Powys king Elisedd ap Gwylog's own agreement, however, for this boundary, extending north from the valley of the River Severn to the Dee estuary, gave Oswestry to Powys.^[43] Another theory, after carbon dating placed the dyke's existence 300 years earlier, is that it may have been built by the post-Roman rulers of Wroxeter.^[44] King Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this consultative initiative when he created a larger earthwork, now known as Offa's Dyke (Clawdd Offa). Davies wrote of Cyril Fox's study of Offa's Dyke: "In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Powys and Gwent. On the Long Mountain near Trelystan, the dyke veers to the east, leaving the fertile slopes in the hands of the Welsh; near Rhiwabon, it was designed to ensure that Cadell ap Brochwel retained possession of the Fortress of Penygadden." And, for Gwent, Offa had the dyke built "on the eastern crest of the gorge, clearly with the intention of recognizing that the River Wye and its traffic belonged to the kingdom of Gwent."^[43] However, Fox's interpretations of both the length and purpose of the Dyke have been questioned by more recent research.^[45] Offa's Dyke largely remained the frontier between the Welsh and English, though the Welsh would recover by the 12th century the area between the Dee (Afon Dyfrdwy), and the Conwy known then as Y Berfeddwlad. By the eighth century, the eastern borders with the Anglo-Saxons had broadly been set.

In 853 the Vikings raided Anglesey, but in 856 Rhodri Mawr defeated and killed their leader, Gorm.^[46] The Britons of Wales later made their peace with the Vikings and Anarawd ap Rhodri allied with the Norsemen occupying Northumbria to conquer the north.^[47] This alliance later broke down and Anarawd came to an agreement with Alfred, king of Wessex, with whom he fought against the west Welsh. According to Annales Cambriae, in 894, "Anarawd came with the Angles and laid waste Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi."^[48]

Medieval Wales[link]

The southern and eastern parts of Great Britain lost to English settlement became known in Welsh as Lloegyr (Modern Welsh Lloegr), which may have referred to the kingdom of Mercia originally, and which came to refer to England as a whole.^{[nb 3]} The Germanic tribes who now dominated these lands were invariably called Saeson, meaning "Saxons". The Anglo-Saxons called the Romano-British 'Walha', meaning 'Romanised foreigner' or 'stranger'.^[49] The Welsh continued to call themselves Brythoniaid (Brythons or Britons) well into the Middle Ages, though the first written evidence of the use of Cymru and y Cymry is found in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan (Moliant Cadwallon, by Afan Ferddig) c. 633.^[6] In Armes Prydain, believed to be written around 930–942, the words Cymry and Cymro are used as often as 15 times.^[50] However, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement onwards, the people gradually begin to adopt the name Cymry over Brythoniad.^[51]

Dolwyddelan Castle – built by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth in the early 13th century to watch over one of the valley routes into Gwynedd

From 800 onwards, a series of dynastic marriages led to Rhodri Mawr's (r. 844–77) inheritance of Gwynedd and Powys. His sons in turn would found three principal dynasties (Aberffraw for Gwynedd, Dinefwr for Deheubarth, and Mathrafal for Powys). Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda (r. 900–50) founded Deheubarth out of his maternal and paternal inheritances of Dyfed and Seisyllwg in 930, ousted the Aberffraw dynasty from Gwynedd and Powys, and then codified Welsh law in the 940s.^[52] Maredudd ab Owain (r. 986–99) of Deheubarth (Hywel's grandson) would, (again) temporarily oust the Aberffraw line from control of Gwynedd and Powys.

Maredudd's great-grandson (through his daughter Princess Angharad) Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (r. 1039–63) would conquer his cousins' realms from his base in Powys, and even extend his authority into England. Historian John Davies states that Gruffydd was "the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales... Thus, from about 1057 until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognised the kingship of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor."^[1] Owain Gwynedd (1100–70) of the Aberffraw line was the first Welsh ruler to use the title princeps Wallensium (prince of the Welsh), a title of substance given his victory on the Berwyn Mountains, according to John Davies.^[53]

Sculpture of Owain Glyndŵr (c. 1354 or 1359 – c. 1416) at Cardiff City Hall

Within four years of the Battle of Hastings England had been completely subjugated by the Normans.^[1] William I of England established a series of lordships, allocated to his most powerful warriors along the Welsh border, the boundaries fixed only to the east.^[54] This frontier region, and any English-held lordships in Wales, became known as Marchia Wallie, the Welsh Marches, in which the Marcher Lords were subject to neither English nor Welsh law.^[55] The area of the March varied as the fortunes of the Marcher Lords and the Welsh princes ebbed and flowed.^[56] The March of Wales, which existed for over 450 years, was abolished under the Acts of Union in 1536.^[55]

Owain Gwynedd's grandson Llywelyn Fawr (the Great, 1173–1240), wrested concessions out of the Magna Carta in 1215 and receiving the fealty of other Welsh lords in 1216 at the council at Aberdyfi, became the first Prince of Wales.^[57] His grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffydd also secured the recognition of the title Prince of Wales from Henry III with the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267.^[58] Later however, a succession of disputes, including the imprisonment of Llywelyn's wife Eleanor, daughter of Simon de Montfort, culminated in the first invasion by King Edward I of England.^[59] As a result of military defeat, the Treaty of Aberconwy exacted Llywelyn's fealty to England in 1277.^[59] Peace was short lived and, with the 1282 Edwardian conquest, the rule of the Welsh princes permanently ended. With Llywelyn's death and his brother prince Dafydd's execution, the few remaining Welsh lords did homage for their lands to Edward I. Llywelyn's head was carried through London on a spear; his baby daughter Gwenllian was locked in the priory at Sempringham, where she remained until her death 54 years later.^[60]

Caernarfon Castle

To help maintain his dominance, Edward constructed a series of great stone castles. Beaumaris, Caernarfon and Conwy. His son, the future King Edward II of England, was born at Edward's new castle at Caernarfon in 1284.^[61] He became the first English Prince of Wales, not as an infant, but in 1301. The apocryphal story that Edward tricked the Welsh by offering them a Welsh-born Prince who could speak no English, was first recorded in 1584.^[62] The title also provided an income from the north–west part of Wales known as the Principality of Wales, until the Act of Union (1536), after which the term principality, when used, was associated with the whole of Wales.^[63][64][65] After the failed revolt in 1294–95 of Madog ap Llywelyn – who styled himself Prince of Wales in the so-called Penmachno Document – there was no major uprising until that led by Owain Glyndŵr a century later, against Henry IV of England. In 1404, Owain was reputedly crowned Prince of Wales in the presence of emissaries from France, Spain and Scotland.^[66] Glyndŵr went on to hold parliamentary assemblies at several Welsh towns, including Machynlleth. The rebellion was ultimately to founder, however, and Owain went into hiding in 1412, with peace being essentially restored in Wales by 1415. Although the English conquest of Wales took place under the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan, a formal Union did not occur until 1536,^[64] shortly after which Welsh law, which continued to be used in Wales after the conquest, was fully replaced by English law, under what would become known as the Act of Union.^[67]

Industrial Wales[link]

Dowlais Ironworks by George Childs (1840)

Prior to the British Industrial Revolution, which saw a rapid economic expansion between 1750 and 1850, there were signs of small-scale industries scattered throughout Wales.^[68] These ranged from industries connected to agriculture, such as milling and the manufacture of woollen textiles, through to mining and quarrying.^[68] Until the Industrial Revolution, Wales had always been reliant on its agricultural output for its wealth and employment and the earliest industrial businesses were small scale and localised in manner.^[68] The emerging industrial period commenced around the development of copper smelting in the Swansea area. With access to local coal deposits and a harbour that could take advantage of Cornwall's copper mines and the copper deposits being extracted from the then largest copper mine in the world at Parys Mountain on Anglesey, Swansea developed into the world's major centre for non-ferrous metal smelting in the 19th century.^[68] The second metal industry to expand in Wales was iron smelting, and iron manufacturing became prevalent in both the north and the south of the country.^[69] In the north of Wales, John Wilkinson's Ironworks at Bersham was a significant industry, while in the south, a second world centre of metallurgy was founded in Merthyr Tydfil, where the four ironworks of Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, Plymouth and Penydarren became the most significant hub of iron manufacture in Wales.^[69] In the 1820s, south Wales alone accounted for 40% of all pig iron manufactured in Britain.^[69]

In the late 18th century, slate quarrying began to expand rapidly, most notably in north Wales. The most notable site, opened in 1770 by Richard Pennant, is Penrhyn Quarry which, by the late 19th century, was employing 15,000 men;^[70] and along with Dinorwic Quarry, dominated the Welsh slate trade. Although slate quarrying has been described as 'the most Welsh of Welsh industries',^[71] it is coal mining which has become the single industry synonymous with Wales and its people. Initially, coal seams were exploited to provide energy for local metal industries but, with the opening of canal systems and later the railways, Welsh coal mining saw a boom in its demand. As the south Wales coalfield was exploited, mainly in the upland valleys around Aberdare and later the Rhondda, the ports of Swansea, Cardiff and later Penarth, grew into world exporters of coal and, with them, came a population boom. By its height in 1913, Wales was producing almost 61 million tons of coal. As well as in South Wales, there was also a significant coalfield in the north-east of the country, particularly around Wrexham.^[72] As Wales was reliant on the production of capital goods rather than consumer goods, it possessed few of the skilled craftspeople and artisans found in the workshops of Birmingham or Sheffield in England and had few factories producing finished goods – a key feature of most regions associated with the Industrial Revolution.^[69] However, there is increasing support that the industrial revolution was reliant on harnessing the energy and materials provided by Wales and, in that sense, Wales was of central importance.^[69]

Modern Wales[link]

Battle at Mametz Wood by Christopher Williams (1918)

Historian Kenneth Morgan described Wales on the eve of the First World War as a "relatively placid, self-confident, and successful nation". Output from the coalfields continued to increase, with the Rhondda Valley recording a peak of 9.6 million tons of coal extracted in 1913.^[73] The outbreak of the First World War (1914–1918) saw Wales, as part of the United Kingdom, enter hostilities with Germany. A total of 272,924 Welshmen served in the war, representing 21.5% of the male population.^[74] Of these, roughly 35,000 were killed.^[74] The two most notable battles of the War to include Welsh forces were those at Mametz Wood on the Somme and Third Ypres.^[75]

The first quarter of the 20th century also saw a shift in the political landscape of Wales. Since 1865, the Liberal Party had held a parliamentary majority in Wales and, following the general election of 1906, only one non-Liberal Member of Parliament, Keir Hardie of Merthyr Tydfil, represented a Welsh constituency in Westminster.^[76] Yet by 1906, industrial dissension and political militancy had begun to undermine Liberal consensus in the Southern coalfields.^[76] In 1916, David Lloyd George became the first Welshman to become Prime Minister of Britain when he was made head of the 1916 coalition government.^[77] In December 1918, Lloyd George was re-elected at the head of a Conservative-dominated coalition government, and his poor handling of the 1919 coalminers' strike was a key factor in destroying support for the Liberal party in south Wales.^[78] The industrial workers of Wales began shifting towards a new political organisation, established by Hardie and others to ensure an elected representation for the working class, and now called the Labour party.^[79] When in 1908 the Miners' Federation of Great Britain became affiliated to the Labour Party the four Labour candidates sponsored by miners were all elected as MPs.^[79] By 1922, half of the Welsh seats in Westminster were held by Labour politicians, which was the beginning of a Labour hegemony which would dominate Wales into the 21st century.^[79]

Despite economic growth in the first two decades of the 20th century, from the early 1920s to the late 1930s, Wales' staple industries endured a prolonged slump, leading to widespread unemployment and poverty in the South Wales valleys.^[80] For the first time in centuries, the population of Wales went into decline; the scourge of unemployment only relented with the production demands of the Second World War.^[81] The Second World War (1939–1945) saw Welsh servicemen and women fight in all the major theatres of war, with some 15,000 of them killed.^[82] Bombing raids brought major loss of life as the German Air Force targeted the docks at Swansea, Cardiff and Pembroke.^[82] After 1943, 10% of Welsh conscripts aged 18 were sent to work in the coal mines to rectify labour shortages; they became known as Bevin Boys.^[82] Pacifist numbers during both World Wars were fairly low, especially in the Second World War, which was seen as a fight against fascism.^[82] Of the political parties active in Wales, only Plaid Cymru advocated a neutral stance, on the grounds that it was an 'imperialist war'.^[82]

The 20th century saw a revival in Welsh national feeling. Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925, seeking greater autonomy or independence from the rest of the UK.^[84] In 1955, the term England and Wales became common for describing the area to which English law applied, and Cardiff was proclaimed as capital city of Wales. Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) was formed in 1962, in response to fears that the language may soon die out.^[85] Nationalist sentiment grew following the flooding of the Tryweryn valley in 1965 to create a reservoir supplying water to the English city of Liverpool.^[86] Despite 35 of the 36 Welsh Members of Parliament voting against the bill, with the other abstaining, Parliament still passed the bill and the village of Capel Celyn was submerged, highlighting Wales' powerlessness in her own affairs in the face of the numerical superiority of English MPs in the Westminster Parliament.^[87] Both the Free Wales Army and Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Welsh Defence Movement, abbreviated as MAC) were formed as a direct result of the Tryweryn destruction, conducting campaigns from 1963.^[88] In the years leading up to the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales in 1969, these groups were responsible for a number of bomb blasts—destroying water pipes, tax and other offices, and part of the dam at the new Clywedog reservoir project in Montgomeryshire; being built to supply water to the English Midlands.^[89][90] In 1966 the Carmarthen Parliamentary seat was won by Gwynfor Evans at a by-election, Plaid Cymru's first Parliamentary seat.^[91] In the following year, the Wales and Berwick Act 1746 was repealed and a legal definition of Wales and of the boundary with England was stated.

By the end of the 1960s, the regional policy of bringing firms into disadvantaged areas of Wales through financial incentives, had proven very successful in diversifying the once industrial landscape.^[92] This policy, begun in 1934, was enhanced by the construction of industrial estates and improving transport communications,^[92] most notably the M4 motorway linking Wales directly to London. There was a belief that the foundations for stable economic growth had been firmly established in Wales during this period; but these views were shown to be wildly optimistic after the recession of the early 1980s saw the collapse of much of the manufacturing base that had been built over the preceding forty years.^[93]

The first referendum, in 1979, in which the Welsh electorate voted on the creation of an assembly for Wales resulted in a large majority for the "no" vote.^[94] However, in 1997, a referendum on the same issue secured a "yes", although by a very narrow majority.^[94] The National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) was set up in 1999 (as a consequence of the Government of Wales Act 1998) and possesses the power to determine how the central government budget for Wales is spent and administered, although the UK parliament reserves the right to set limits on the powers of the Welsh Assembly.

The governments of the United Kingdom and of Wales almost invariably define Wales as a country.^[95][96] The Welsh Assembly Government says: "Wales is not a Principality. Although we are joined with England by land, and we are part of Great Britain, Wales is a country in its own right."^[97] The title Prince of Wales is still conferred on the heir apparent to the British throne, currently Prince Charles. However the Prince of Wales has no constitutional role in modern Wales.^[98] According to the Welsh Assembly Government: "Our Prince of Wales at the moment is Prince Charles, who is the present heir to the throne. But he does not have a role in the governance of Wales, even though his title might suggest that he does."^[97]

Government and politics[link]

Royal Badge of Wales, used by the National Assembly

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.^[3][99] Constitutionally, the UK is a de jure, unitary state, its parliament and government in Westminster. In the House of Commons – the lower house of the UK government – Wales is represented by 40 MPs (of 650) from Welsh constituencies. Labour MPs hold 26 of the 40 seats, the Liberal Democrats hold three seats, Plaid Cymru, three and the Conservatives, eight. A Secretary of State for Wales sits in the UK cabinet and is responsible for representing matters pertaining to Wales. The Wales Office is a department of the United Kingdom government, responsible for Wales. Cheryl Gillan has been Secretary of State for Wales since 12 May 2010, replacing Peter Hain of the previous Labour administration. Gillan was appointed to the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition Westminster government following the United Kingdom general election of 2010.^[100]

Referendums held in Wales and Scotland in 1997 chose to establish a form of self-government in both countries. In Wales, the consequent process of devolution began with the Government of Wales Act 1998, which created the National Assembly for Wales (Welsh: Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru).^[101] Powers of the Secretary of State for Wales were transferred to the devolved government on 1 July 1999, granting the Assembly responsibility to decide how the Westminster government's budget for devolved areas is spent and administered.^[102] The 1998 Act was amended by the Government of Wales Act 2006 which enhanced the Assembly's powers, giving it legislative powers akin to the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly consists of 60 members, known as Assembly Members (Aelodau y Cynulliad). Members (AMs (ACau)) are elected for four year terms under an additional member system. Forty of the AMs represent geographical constituencies, elected under the First Past the Post system. The remaining twenty AMs represent five electoral regions, each representing between seven and nine constituencies, using the d'Hondt method of proportional representation.^[103] The Assembly must elect a First Minister, who selects ministers to form the Welsh Government.

The Senedd (National Assembly building)
Designed by Richard Rogers,
opened on St David's Day (1 March) 2006

Labour remained the largest Assembly party following the 2007 election, winning 26 of the 60 seats.^[103] Having insufficient support to form a government, the Labour Party entered into the 'One Wales' agreement with Plaid Cymru, forming a coalition, with the Labour leader as First Minister.^[104] Carwyn Jones has been First Minister and leader of Welsh Labour since Rhodri Morgan retired from office in December 2009, after nine years and ten months as First Minister.^[105] Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister in the coalition government, was leader of Plaid Cymru, the second-largest party in the Assembly with 14 of the 60 seats. Under the 'One Wales' agreement, a referendum on giving the Welsh assembly full law-making powers was promised "as soon as practicable, at or before the end of the assembly term (in 2011)" and both parties have agreed "in good faith to campaign for a successful outcome to such a referendum".^[106]

Welsh Labour again remained the largest party within the Assembly following the National Assembly for Wales election, 2011 winning 30 of the 60 seats. Other parties represented in the assembly are the Welsh Covervatives, the loyal opposition with 14 seats, Plaid Cymru which have 11 seats and the Welsh Liberal Democrats with five seats. Carwyn Jones remained First Minister following the election, this time leading a Welsh Labour ministerial team. The Presiding Officer of the Assembly is Rosemary Butler of Welsh Labour.

The twenty areas of responsibility devolved to the Welsh Government, known as "subjects", include agriculture, economic development, education, health, housing, local government, social services, tourism, transport and the Welsh language.^[107][108] On its creation in 1999, the National Assembly for Wales had no primary legislative powers.^[109] However, since the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GoWA 2006) came into effect in 2007, the Assembly had power to pass primary legislation as Assembly Measures on some specific matters within the areas of devolved responsibility. Further matters have been added subsequently, either directly by the UK Parliament or by the UK Parliament approving a Legislative Competence Order (LCO); a request from the National Assembly for additional powers. The GoWA 2006 allows for the Assembly to gain primary lawmaking powers on a more extensive range of matters within the same devolved areas if approved in a referendum.^[110]

A referendum on extending the law-making powers of the National Assembly was accordingly held on 3 March 2011. It asked the question: "Do you want the Assembly now to be able to make laws on all matters in the 20 subject areas it has powers for?" The result of the vote was that 63.49% voted 'yes', and 36.51% voted 'no'. Consequently, the Assembly is now able to make laws, known as Acts of the Assembly, on all matters in the subject areas, without needing the UK Parliament's agreement.^[111]