Why is the prince of England titled "Prince of Wales"?

Question

Spain's prince is called "Principe de Asturias" because it was the one place besides Galicia that was not conquered by the Moors but why is the prince of England titled "Prince of Wales"?

I'm not English by the way.

Answer 1

On 10th May 1301, when Prince Edward was 16 years old, he was formally invested (i.e. officially named) as Prince of Wales in a ceremony at Lincoln. Edward I chose the title Prince of Wales in conscious imitation of his old enemy Llewelyn the Last.

Llewelyn had used the title from 1258 to emphasize his leadership of the entire Welsh people, not just his own kingdom of Gwynedd. Although Llewelyn was on pretty shaky legal ground with his title, Edward had no compunction proclaiming his heir a prince of all the land and people of Wales.

Over the centuries since that first investiture, the future male heir to the crown of England has been named Prince of Wales. The title is not hereditary - that is, it is not automatically conferred at birth. It must be conferred in an official ceremony of investiture.

Over the centuries various items of jewelry have been created and worn especially at these ceremonioes. This jewelry now makes up the official Welsh Crown Jewels, some of which is stored at the Tower of London and some at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.

Answer 2

Wales was a principality, with it's own prince. When it was taken over by England, the then king named his son Prince of Wales to try to appease the Welsh. With only limited success at the time, but, that title has been around since the 1200's. Wales is the only part of the UK with it's own prince, because of that originally having a prince, rather than a king.

Answer 3

Let's get this quite right.

1. The heir to the throne of England (and now to the throne of the United Kingdom) traditionally adopts the title Prince of Wales. I think this is to show the inalienability of Wales from the English Crown (ie the two canot be separated). Unlike Scotland, England and Wales traditionally have the same legal system etc.
2. The monarch who ultimately conquered Wales was Edward I. His view of Wales was a feudal one; that Llewelyn owed him homage for Wales (or at least for the landhe held in Wales).
3. The Llewelyn he defeated was not Llewelyn the Great but Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Llewelyn the Great's grandson.
4. The legend about Edward promising the Welsh an heir who could not speak English is likely to be apocryphal. The story comes from the sixteenth century when the story was that after defeating Llewelyn and his brother David (Dafydd) Edward promised to give the Wlesh a prince born in Wales could could not speak English. Accordingly in 1284 he presented his son Edward (later Edward II), born at Caernarvon on 25 April 1284. However in 1284 Edward's heir was his eldest son, Alphonso, and no landed endowment had been provided for Alphonso in 1284.
5. Edward I's son (later Edward II) was in fact the first heir to be invested as Prince of Wales in February 1301 at the Lincoln Parliament.
6. Edwardus Primus Scotorum Malleus

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

I'm not English either, I'm Welsh.

Basically what happened was that the King of England, I think Henry II [a Norman] managed to overcome resistance in Wales and planted himself as King of England and of Wales. He then had his eldest son titled Prince of Wales.

That's very roughly what happened.

What we have in Wales is a Prince of the English, a German in fact, who is titled Prince of Wales. He seldom actually ever comes to Wales.

Back in Spain; I think Galicia is a Celtic kingdom. Is that correct? The name sounds very Celtic and not in the least Spanish Galicia [GALIC] ETC. Gal-isee-ya.

Answer 5

The story goes that when Edward I conquered Wales, he promised their new leader would not be able to speak a word of English. The Welsh, none too fond of the English, thought this was a good thing. Edward then named his baby son (who couldn't speak anything at all, being a baby) as Prince of Wales. Since then, the tradition has been for the monarch to give the title to his or her oldest son (the heir apparent). The title is not automatic, but is something the monarch confers upon him. The monarch is not technically required to give this title.

Edward I was enough of a smart-aleck jerk I can see him actually doing this.

Once Prince Charles (the current Prince of Wales) becomes king, he will presumably give the Prince of Wales title to Prince William, his eldest son.

Answer 6

Because Wales was conquered by the English throne in the late 13th Century and as a way to solidify the claim, Edward I chose to use the title on his son, the future Edward II.

Wales had never been a unified country since the early middle ages, which made it weak and easy to be absorbed by England. Little by little, Wales was absorbed by England, with the process accelerating with Edward I. Although he initially tried a policy similar to Scotland (naming a weak puppet king), there were consistent rebellions from some of the welsh principalities, which ended with the execution of some of the rulers and an adoption of outright conquest.

Castles were built all over Wales to absorb the country, and the future Edward II started to be referred as ruler of all the welsh nations or "Wales". The title stuck around as a symbol of dominion over that part of the country.

Answer 7

in 1285 ce Edward I conquered wales and annexed it to England. up to this point in history there were many rulers of wales (cymru) the leader or the bretwalda of these different kingdoms changed throughout the years until the rise of Llewellyn the great, he was the last of the great bretwalda of wales and was given the title 'Prince Of Wales' . when Edward I conquered the country he set about building castles all over wales to keep the welsh in check, the most famous of these being Caernarfon castle, it was here that the Kings son Edward II was born and Edward took the child nd raised him before the people of wales and said ' look here I have given you your new Prince of Wales' ever since that day the eldest son of the Monarch has held the title until their coronation.

Answer 8

It's a conceit of the English Monarchy to call the eldest son The Prince of Wales.
This person has no connection with Wales. He is not Welsh and has no residence there.
The motto on his coat of arms is German "Ich Dien" which is probably the strangest thing of all.

Answer 9

Because Wales was the most rebellious province in the realm in olden days, it became a tradition to let the heir- apparent "make his bones" in Wales. The idea being that if he could maintain order there, then he'd be ready for the top job when it came open.

Answer 10

It has Brit legend, myths, from the round table, King Arthur in a time there was a king for about as many counties. Wars, land battles. The Black knight worst of dog killers of the Welsh through to Norman invasions, the Germans, the Romans taking siege, eventually with a single King crowned for all the people, except the Scots who held out the longest. The Welsh were continually being slaughtered, they thought it better to give in than to fight the English. There are volumes of this stuff, you can research, some legendary tale, all of it history that can be best defined as near truth.