As the Prince and Princess of Wales made their first official visit to Wales since receiving the titles from King Charles III two weeks ago, news began trickling out that there would be no formal and grand investiture ceremony for Prince William. This is a good thing.
For context, a spectacular ceremony was held in 1969 for then-Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, at Caernarfon Castle to officially bestow the title upon him. However, it wasn’t necessary or required; he’d been given the title in 1958 when he was nine-years-old, and it was only the second time such an event had taken place.
The new Prince of Wales, Charles, was fêted at Caernarfon Castle, studied Welsh meticulously with a Welsh professor, and vowed, “I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liege man of life and limb” as his mother placed a coronet on his head. Every aspect was designed by his uncle, the Earl of Snowdon, and it was broadcast to an audience of millions around the world.
By contrast, King Charles’s uncle, Edward VIII, was invested in a similar ceremony on 13 July 1911. Throughout history, for every other Prince of Wales—and there have been many in the centuries since it was first bestowed on the heir to the English throne — a simple proclamation by the Sovereign had sufficed.
In 1969, the ceremony showed the mysticism of royalty but was also met with controversy as Welsh nationalists objected. In the decades since the ceremony, King Charles worked hard to showcase Wales and devote himself to Welsh causes, to his success. No one can accuse King Charles of not taking his role seriously.
But now, with a new Prince of Wales, William will need to find a way to honour the legacy of the role, become a staunch advocate for the Welsh people, and do it in a modern way.
For a start, that means no grand ceremony, as commentators agree that in 2022 the monarchy is in a very different place than it was in 1969, and Wales is different than it was 53 years ago.
From the moment William was granted the title by his father in his accession speech on 9 September, Welsh politicians and commentators have quickly pointed out that a big ceremony isn’t something they’d necessarily want. It’s enough for William and Catherine to hold the titles and to support the country without the pomp.
A royal source told The Telegraph on 27 September that William wasn’t even considering an investiture ceremony, noting: “The Prince and Princess will approach their new roles in the way that they have approached their other work, in their own way.”
Instead, the source continued, William and Catherine will work on “deepening the trust and respect of the people of Wales.” This began with a visit to Anglesey—where the royal couple spent the first few years of their marriage—and Swansea and will continue throughout the year with further visits. Reports indicate that William and Catherine will visit Wales again, likely Cardiff, around Christmas.
Prince William has long been vocal about his hopes to modernise the monarchy and make it relevant to people today—getting younger people to see the monarchy as viable is going to be a crucial task for the Royal Family, and it’s going to fall to William and Catherine.
He and Catherine have worked to highlight their causes and their work in new ways. They crucially took their time to evolve into full-time working royals, adapted to social media, took up important, decades-long work (him with the environment and her with the early years), and struck a delicate balance between public lives and private lives.
Given how hard they’ve worked to strike this delicate balance over the past decade, they no doubt recognise that while there’s a time and place for pageantry – and a glittering ceremony in a castle – wearing coronets and vowing to be liege men of life and limb to King Charles III while the UK drags itself out of the economic quagmire caused by the coronavirus pandemic isn’t the way to stay modern.
There’s no reason not to be optimistic about what the new Prince and Princess of Wales will do with their platform; even with his environmental work, William has operated from a place of hope and change, not doom and gloom. He wants to find out what works and what doesn’t work and use his profile and platform to help effect change. Catherine is likewise dedicated to finding solutions with her early years’ work.
So even though a Welsh investiture ceremony isn’t on the cards, William and Catherine will no doubt do their best to serve the people of Wales and ensure that the same level of attention and care that was granted to them by King Charles carries on into this next reign.
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