Under pale skies, thousands of admirers gathered to watch the young Prince Charles stride solemnly toward the stage. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, watched him kneel on a scarlet cushion, then handed him a golden rod, a kingly mantle, a sword, a girdle, a coronet and a ring.
On Friday, Charles is paying his first visit to Wales as King of the United Kingdom. It’s a long way from his investiture as the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle on July 1, 1969 — a ceremony during which he brushed off controversy, spoke in Welsh and charmed the nation.
The Prince of Wales is a title reserved for the heir apparent to the British throne, and one Charles inherited in 1958 via letters patent before being formalized more than a decade later. Having a royal Englishman serve as Prince of Wales is a custom that dates back to Edward, son of King Edward I, who was granted the title in 1301. His Welsh predecessor in the role was Dafydd ap Gruffydd, who was killed on the order of the English king in 1283 to install the 16-year-old Edward in the role.
Charles’s assumption of the title was one very much in the public eye, though perhaps not entirely for reasons the royal family might have wanted. Ten days before his investiture, Britain’s two biggest television networks – the BBC and ITV – had collaborated on a behind-the-scenes documentary to mark the event, titled “Royal Family.”
Many British public figures were apprehensive about showing the Windsors in a “normal” light. The film was last aired during Queen Elizabeth’s silver jubilee in 1977 and has not been made widely available since (prior to an internet leak in 2021).
It wasn’t just the royals experiencing tensions before Charles’ investiture. A Welsh nationalist movement had been steadily growing since the queen’s coronation in 1953.
By 1955, a campaign to form a Welsh Parliament had been established. In April of the following a year, the British government was presented with a petition for Welsh independence, complete with 250,000 signatures.
It was therefore prudent that Charles prepare for his new title in earnest. He left his studies at the University of Cambridge at age 20 to move to the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where for a term he received instruction from tutor Edward Millward on his new homeland’s history and culture.
Charles’ investiture speech – the first two paragraphs of which were delivered in the Welsh language – was sympathetic enough to his new subjects that George Thomas, the Welsh secretary of state, told Prime Minister Harold Wilson that the prince had “boosted Welsh nationalism.”
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Queen Elizabeth II has been buried in her final resting place next to Prince Philip, her husband of more than 70 years, capping an elaborate state funeral, which was invested with all the pomp, circumstance and showmanship that the monarchy, military and state could put on display for a global broadcast audience of millions. Here are some of the most memorable moments in photos and videos.
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Globally, 500 million people watched the ceremony. In Britain, press coverage focused on the pomp and regalia, with newspapers proclaiming “Welsh go wild for Their Royal Prince” and “Proud Wales takes Prince to her heart.”
The investiture was one of Charles’ most prominent public appearances until his marriage to Lady Diana Spencer on July 29, 1981. That event was dubbed “the wedding of the century” and attracted a global television audience of 750 million viewers. In Britain, the day was commemorated with souvenir crown coins and street parties.
In the years following his marriage, Charles’s relationship with the British media became more turbulent. Chart-topping Welsh rock band the Manic Street Preachers recorded a controversial song titled “Charles Windsor” whose lyrics imagined the prince being deposed by “a rabble … the kind you’d hoped were dead.”
In 1989, a radio enthusiast was able to intercept a sexually explicit phone conversation between Charles and his now-wife Camilla Parker-Bowles, both of whom were still married to their spouses. The recorded call was leaked to People magazine in 1993, after Charles and Diana had separated.
Last week, Charles bestowed the title of Prince of Wales upon his eldest son, William, but not without another controversy. The new king has reportedly voiced concerns as to whether a Caernarfon Castle investiture ceremony is necessary.
Perhaps the new king’s feelings on his outgoing title are best described in a quote he once gave while discussing his family’s future: “Something as curious as the monarchy won’t survive unless you take account of people’s attitudes. After all, if people don’t want it, they won’t have it.”
