Princess of Wales

For ships of this name, see Princess of Wales (ship).

Princess of Wales (Welsh: Tywysoges Cymru) is a title used since the 14th century by the wife of the Prince of Wales. The princess is a likely future queen consort, as the prince of Wales is a title reserved for the heir apparent to the British throne (and earlier in history the English throne). When the title was first recorded it was not connected to the English throne, it developed in an independent Wales when it was held by Eleanor de Montfort, the wife of the native prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton).

Princess of Wales
Tywysoges Cymru (Welsh)
Incumbent Catherine since 9 September 2022
Style	Her Royal Highness
Member of	British royal family

Female heirs to the throne (apparent or presumptive, i.e., a future queen regnant) have not formally held the title.^[1] In the 20th century, King George VI in examining the issue, decided that it is a title only held by a wife of the prince.

Background

Prior to 'Princess' (Welsh: Tywysoges) the title of 'Queen' (Welsh: Brenhines) was used by some spouses of the rulers of Wales. Examples are Angharad ferch Owain, wife of Gruffudd ap Cynan, and Cristin verch Goronwy, wife of Gruffudd's son, Owain Gwynedd (specifically, she was known as 'Queen Dowager').^[2]

The title in independent Wales

Main article: Wales in the High Middle Ages

See also: List of rulers of Wales

Joan (Siwan)

Joan, also known as Siwan (her Welsh name), was the illegitimate daughter of King John of England. She was the wife of Llywelyn the Great (initially king of Gwynedd), effective ruler of all of Wales.^[3] During her tenure, she used the titles 'Lady of Wales' and 'Lady of Snowdon'.

Eleanor de Montfort and Gwenllian

 

Memorial to Gwenllian in Sempringham, England, where she was imprisoned since childhood^[4]

Following her wedding ceremony in 1278, Eleanor de Montfort was officially known as princess of Wales.^[5][6][7][8] On 19 June 1282, she died giving birth to her first child, Gwenllian.^[9]

The infant was captured by English forces the following year, after her father, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, was killed in December 1282. At Edward I's orders, she was kept in the remote Sempringham Priory in Lincolnshire, where she remained until her death in 1337.^{[citation needed]}

Gwenllian's status was acknowledged at least once by the English Crown. When writing to the pope, attempting to secure more money for Sempringham Priory, the king stated that "...herein is kept the Princess of Wales, whom we have to maintain". The title 'Princess of Wales' as used here did not have its usual accepted meaning.^[10][4]

Margaret Hanmer and Catrin, daughter of Glyndŵr

Margaret Hanmer, sometimes known as Marred ferch Dafydd (her Welsh name), was the wife of Owain Glyndŵr.^[11][12] Some modern historians have accorded her the title 'Princess of Wales'.^[13]

Catrin was one of the children of Owain Glyndŵr and Margaret Hanmer. In November 1402, she married Sir Edmund Mortimer, the second son of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March and through his mother, a great-grandson of Edward III of England.^[14]

Edmund Mortimer died during the siege of Harlech Castle in 1409, of unknown causes.^[15] Catrin was subsequently captured alongside her three daughters, and they were taken to the Tower of London, along with Catrin's mother and one of her sisters. The deaths and burials of Catrin and her daughters are recorded, but the causes of their deaths remain unknown. They were laid to rest at St Swithin's Church in London.^[16]

List

Image	Name	Birth	Spouse	Death	Notes
	Joan, Lady of Wales	1191	Llywelyn the Great	2 February 1237	Known as Siwan in Welsh; Lady of Wales and Snowdon;^[17] Proposed to have been Princess of Wales^[18]
	Isabella de Braose	1222	Dafydd ap Llywelyn	1248	Proposed to have been Princess of Wales^[19]
	Eleanor de Montfort	1252	Llywelyn ap Gruffydd	19 June 1282	Princess of Wales; Lady of Snowdon^[6]^[7]^[8]
	Elizabeth Ferrers	1250	Dafydd ap Gruffydd	1300	Proposed to have been Princess of Wales^[citation needed]
	Gwenllian of Wales	June 1282		7 June 1337	Princess of Wales;^[10] daughter of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd
	Margaret Hanmer	1370	Owain Glyndŵr	1420	Later attributed^[20]
	Catrin ferch Owain Glyndŵr		Edmund Mortimer	1413	Proposed to have been Princess of Wales; daughter of Owain Glyndŵr^[21]

Spouse of the British (formerly English) heir apparent

Cecily Neville, wife of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, is omitted from this list. While her husband was briefly given various titles, including prince of Wales, by an Act of Parliament as part of his arrangement to succeed Henry VI, he is not generally recognised as such and is not mentioned in any published summary of the topic.

Although not granted the title in her own right, the future Mary I was, during her youth, invested by her father, Henry VIII, with many of the rights and properties traditionally given to the prince of Wales, including the use of the official seal of Wales for correspondence. For most of her childhood, Mary was her father's only legitimate child, and for this reason, she was often referred to as the princess of Wales, although Henry never formally created her as such. For example, contemporary scholar Juan Luis Vives dedicated his Satellitium Animi to "Dominæ Mariæ Cambriæ Principi, Henrici Octavi Angliæ Regis Filiæ" ("To the Lady Mary, Prince of Wales, Daughter of Henry VIII, King of England").^[22]

Welsh politicians suggested that George VI's elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth (the future Elizabeth II), be granted the title on her 18th birthday, but he rejected the idea because he felt such a title belonged solely to the wife of a prince of Wales and the prince of Wales had always been the heir apparent.^[1]

Camilla, Charles III's second wife, was the Princess of Wales from 2005 to 2022, but did not use the title due to its popular association with her husband's first wife, Diana.^[23]

On 9 September 2022, a day after his accession to the throne, Charles III bestowed the title of 'Prince of Wales' upon his elder son, Prince William, hence making his wife, Catherine, the new princess of Wales.^[24]

List

Image	Previous name	Birth	Marriage	Became Princess of Wales	Spouse	Change in style	Death	Notes
	Joan of Kent	19 September 1328	10 October 1361		Edward of Woodstock	7 June 1376 Husband's death; became Dowager Princess of Wales	7 August 1385
	Anne Neville	11 June 1456	13 December 1470		Edward of Westminster	4 May 1471 Husband's death; became Dowager Princess of Wales	16 March 1485	Later became queen consort as the wife of Richard III
	Catherine of Aragon	16 December 1485	19 May 1499 (by proxy) 14 November 1501		Arthur Tudor	2 April 1502 Husband's death; became Dowager Princess of Wales	7 January 1536	Later became queen consort as the wife of Henry VIII
	Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach	1 March 1683	22 August 1705	27 September 1714	George Augustus	11 June 1727 Husband acceded to throne as George II; became queen consort	20 November 1737
	Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg	30 November 1719	17 April 1736		Frederick Louis	31 March 1751 Husband's death; became Dowager Princess of Wales	8 February 1772
	Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel	17 May 1768	8 April 1795		George Augustus Frederick	29 January 1820 Husband acceded to throne as George IV; became queen consort	7 August 1821
	Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia of Denmark	1 December 1844	10 March 1863		Albert Edward	22 January 1901 Husband acceded to throne as Edward VII; became queen consort	20 November 1925
	Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes of Teck	26 May 1867	6 July 1893	9 November 1901	George Frederick Ernest Albert	6 May 1910 Husband acceded to throne as George V; became queen consort	24 March 1953
	Diana Frances Spencer	1 July 1961	29 July 1981		Charles Philip Arthur George	28 August 1996 Divorced; assumed the style of Diana, Princess of Wales	31 August 1997
	Camilla Rosemary Shand^[25]	17 July 1947	9 April 2005			8 September 2022 Husband acceded to throne as Charles III; became queen consort	living	Known as Duchess of Cornwall during her tenure
	Catherine Elizabeth Middleton^[26]	9 January 1982	29 April 2011	9 September 2022	William Arthur Philip Louis	Incumbent	living

See also

• Controversy of the Prince of Wales title
• The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment)
• The Princess of Wales' Own Regiment (Canada)

Notes

1. Pimlott, Ben (2001). The Queen: Elizabeth II and the monarchy (Golden Jubilee ed.). London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-711435-4. OCLC 59496079.
2. Messer, Danna R. (30 September 2020). Joan, Lady of Wales: Power and Politics of King John's Daughter. Pen and Sword History. ISBN 978-1-5267-2932-3. from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
3. Kate Norgate and A. D. Carr: "Joan [Siwan", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: OUP, 2004), Retrieved 2 February 2019.]
4. "Gwenllian The Lost Princess of Wales". Historic UK. from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
5. Bliss, W. H., editor. Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 1, 1198-1304. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1893.
6. Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1272–81, 306; CPR, 1281–92, 11
7. Calendar of Ancient Correspondence, 75-76
8. Foedera I, ii, 576, 584, 587
9. The chronicle of Bury St Edmunds, p.74-76
10. Fisher, Deborah (2005). Princesses of Wales. University of Wales Press. pp. viii–ix. ISBN 9780708319369.
11. The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog. 1. London: T. Richards. pp. 199, 211–219. The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog. 1. London: T. Richards. pp. 199, 211–219.
12. "Owain Glyndwr - The Parish of Hanmer and Tallarn Green". parish.churchinwales.org.uk. from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
13. Deborah Fisher, Princesses of Wales (University of Wales Press, 2005)
14. Gwynfor Evans (1974). Land of my fathers: 2000 years of Welsh history. John Penry Press. ISBN 9780903701037. from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
15. The Last Mab Darogan, Charles Parry (Novasys, 2010) pp. 273–4.
16. Issues of the Exchequer, Hen. III – Hen. VI, ed. F Devon (Record Commission, 1837), p. 327
17. Messer, Danna R. (30 September 2020). Joan, Lady of Wales: Power and Politics of King John's Daughter. Pen and Sword History. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-5267-2932-3.
18. Sims-Williams, Patrick (25 November 2010). Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature. OUP Oxford. p. 297. ISBN 978-0-19-159159-4. from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
19. Fisher, Deborah C. (2005). Princesses of Wales. University of Wales Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-7083-1936-9. from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
20. Deborah Fisher, Princesses of Wales (University of Wales Press, 2005)
21. Issues of the Exchequer, Hen. III – Hen. VI, ed. F Devon (Record Commission, 1837), p. 327
22. Vives, Juan Luis (1883). Satellitium animi (in Latin). Apud A. Pichleri viduam et filium. from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
23. "House of Commons – Royal Marriage". parliament.uk. from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
24. RegalFille (9 September 2022). "The New Prince and Princess of Wales". RegalFille. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
25. Chris Leslie, Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs (4 April 2005). "Royal Marriage". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 1228W. . Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
26. "King Charles III pays tribute to his 'darling mama' in first address". BBC.com. 9 September 2022. from the original on 12 September 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.

Bibliography

• Princesses of Wales by Deborah Fisher. University of Wales Press, 2005.
• 'Tystiolaeth Garth Celyn' Y Traethodydd 1998 ISSN 0969-8930

Further reading

• Fryer, M.; Mary Beacock Fryer; Arthur Bousfield; Garry Toffoli (1983). Lives of the Princesses of Wales. Toronto: Dundern Press Limited. ISBN 978-0-919670-69-3.