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Arthur, Prince of Wales

Arthur, Prince of Wales (1485-1502)
The Royal Collection © 2006, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

STYLE AND TITLES OF THE PRINCE OF WALES

The title ‘Prince of Wales’ may be possessed only by the eldest son of a Sovereign.

There is no automatic succession to this title, which at every vacancy becomes merged in the Crown, and is renewed only by the Sovereign.

The title ‘Princess of Wales’ applies only to the wife of the Prince of Wales. The title cannot be used by the Sovereign’s daughter, even if she is heir to the throne. For example, the Queen was known as Princess Elizabeth until she succeeded to the throne.

The present Prince of Wales is 21st in the line, counting several who were never formally invested. He can trace his descent back through the Tudors to the original Princes of Wales, of whom the last native Prince of Wales was Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (1246-82).

Edward II was the first Prince of Wales in the present line; he was formally created Prince of Wales by his father Edward I in 1301 and he was invested before Parliament in Lincoln.

When Henry VIII united England and Wales and gave Wales representation in the Parliament at Westminster, the direct link between the Prince of Wales and the government of that principality was severed.

George II, as Prince of Wales, was the last to be granted the revenues of Wales, by a special Act of Parliament. There are no revenues or estates attaching to the principality as such today.

As heir apparent, the Prince of Wales became Duke of Cornwall in 1952 on The Queen’s accession, and he receives the annual net revenues from the Duchy of Cornwall to meet all his costs.

Prince Charles was created Prince of Wales on 26 July 1958 thus becoming the first Prince of Wales since 1936.

Although investitures of Princes of Wales were traditionally held in front of Parliament, and not all Princes of Wales have been invested, the investiture of the present Prince of Wales (like that of his predecessor Prince Edward, later Edward VIII, in 1911) was a State occasion.

Members of the Royal Family

The Queen’s Golden Jubilee

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Memorial sites

Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales by Jacopo Amigoni. Frederick died before his father, George II
The Royal Collection © 2006, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

It took place in a Welsh setting before the Welsh people, at Caernarfon Castle on 1 July 1969. The Welsh regalia (Crown Jewels associated with the Princes of Wales) used at the investitures in 1911 and 1969 are on loan to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.

The Prince of Wales’s other titles are The Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland and Earl of Chester.

The dukedom of Cornwall was first conferred on Edward the Black Prince by his father Edward III in 1343.

The Scottish titles were all vested in the heir to the throne of Scotland by an Act of Scottish Parliament, 1469.

The earldom of Chester, created by William I as a self-governing territory to guard the Welsh border, reverted to the Crown in 1237. The earldom of Chester has always been conferred on the Prince of Wales since Edward I conferred the earldom on his second son Edward, the first Prince of Wales.

Independent Princes of Wales from 844 to 1282:

844-878 Rhodri the Great

878-916 Anarawd (son of Rhodri)

916-950 Hywel Dda, the Good

950-979 Iago ab Idwal (or Ieuaf)

979-985 Hywel ab Ieuaf, the Bad

985-986 Cadwallon (his brother)

986-999 Maredudd ab Owain ap Hywel Dda

999-1008 Cynan ap Hywel ab Ieuaf

1018-1023 Llywelyn ap Seisyll

1023-1039 Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig

1039-1063 Gruffydd ap Llywelyn ap Seisyll

1063-1075 Bleddyn ap Cynfyn

1075-1081 Trahaern ap Caradog

1081-1137 Gruffydd ap Cynan ab Iago

1137-1170 Owain Gwynedd

1170-1194 Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd

1194-1240 Llywelyn Fawr, the Great

1240-1246 Dafydd ap Llywelyn

1246-1282 Llywelyn ap Gruffydd ap Llywelyn

The current Prince of Wales

Princes since 1301, from which time the eldest son of the King or Queen of England (and later Scotland) has been granted the title Prince of Wales:

Edward (son of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile)
Created Prince of Wales 7 February 1301, aged 16, in Lincoln. First example of the eldest son of the King of England being invested with title. Acceded as Edward II 8 June 1307.

Edward (son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, known as the Black Prince)
Created Prince of Wales 12 May 1343, aged 12, at Westminster. Died 8 June 1376.

Richard (son of Edward, Prince of Wales and Joan of Kent)
Created Prince of Wales 20 November 1376, aged 9, at Havering. Acceded as Richard II 22 June 1377.

Henry (son of Henry IV and Mary de Bohun)
Created Prince of Wales 15 October 1399, aged 12, at Westminster. Acceded as Henry V 20 March 1413.

Edward (son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou)
Created Prince of Wales 15 March 1454, aged 5 months; invested 9 June at Windsor. Died 4 May 1471.

Edward (son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville)
Created Prince of Wales 26 June 1471, aged 7 months, at Westminster. Acceded as Edward V 9 April 1483.

Edward (son of Richard III and Anne of Warwick)
Created Prince of Wales 24 August 1483, aged 10; invested 8 September at York Minster. Died 9 April 1484.

Arthur (eldest son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York)
Created Prince of Wales 29 November 1489, aged 3; invested 27 February 1490 at Westminster. Died 2 April 1502.

Henry (second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York)
Created Prince of Wales 18 February 1504, aged 12, at Westminster. Acceded as Henry VIII 22 April 1509.

Henry (eldest son of James I and VI and Anne of Denmark)
Created Prince of Wales 4 June 1610, aged 16, at Westminster. Died 6 November 1612.

Charles (second son of James I and VI and Anne of Denmark)
Created Prince of Wales 4 November 1616, aged 15, at Whitehall. Acceded as Charles I 27 March 1625.

Charles (son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France)
Declared Prince of Wales c.1638-41, in London, aged c.8-11. Acceded as Charles II 30 January 1649.

James (son of James II and Mary of Modena, later known as the Old Pretender)
Created Prince of Wales c.4 July 1688, aged 3 weeks, at St James’s, London. Forfeited title when James II was declared to have abdicated, 11 December 1688.

George (son of George I and Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Celle)
Created Prince of Wales 27 September 1714, aged 30, at Westminster. Acceded as George II 11 June 1727.

Frederick (son of George II and Caroline of Brandenburg-Anspach)
Created Prince of Wales 8 January 1729, aged 21, in London. Died 20 March 1751.

George (son of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha)
Created Prince of Wales 20 April 1751, aged 12, in London. Acceded as George III 25 October 1760.

George (son of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz)
Created Prince of Wales 19 August 1762, aged 1 week, in London. Acceded as George IV 29 January 1820.

Albert Edward (son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert)
Created Prince of Wales 8 December 1841, aged 4 weeks, in London. Acceded as Edward VII 22 January 1901.

George (son of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra)
Created Prince of Wales 9 November 1901, aged 36, in London. Acceded as George V 6 May 1910.

Edward (son of George V and Queen Mary)
Created Prince of Wales 23 June 1910, aged 16; invested 13 July 1911 at Caernarfon Castle. Acceded as Edward VIII 20 January 1936.

Charles (son of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh)
Created Prince of Wales 26 July 1958, aged 9; invested 1 July 1969 at Caernarfon Castle.

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The Prince of Wales
Biography of the heir to the throne