1 July 2009

Video - Booby Haines talks to COL about the Investiture.

40 years on since 1969

Today is the 40'th Anniversary of the Investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle. Radio Cymru's Taro Post chose to speak with locals about how they feel about the event and what Caernarfon now has to offer. Their bus was pitched by the satue of Lloyd George right outside the castle.

Dafydd Iwan was very animated when he explained that he was not a Royalist and failed to see what good the Prince had done to the town. He suggested that the Town Council should drop the Royal connection and re-establish the town as the "Capital of Welsh Wales".

Gerald Parry disagreed and told the listeners that Caernarfon should not and could not turn its back on anything. He said " If the Prince was here today, then the Maes would be full to the rafters and businesses would flourish". He said that we should embrace anything which brings in much needed cash for the town.

 
The Investiture 1969

It seemed that the general censures was that the Investiture had help put Caernarfon on the map and attracted people from all over the world.

Valmai Lloyd was very happy with the Royal Status for the town and thought that the money we spend on keeping the Royal family was well justified. She went on to say that the Town Council was very slow in sorting out a visit from the Prince. She also explained that a visit would help clean up the town and sort out the traffic situation.

Bobby Haines (former Mayor) said that it was a very important event in the town and he welcomed it at the time with open arms and still has fond memories of it. (See what Bobby had to say to COL in the video above).

Anita Kirk said in response to the question "Should we pay to keep the Royal family" -  "We should not forget that the Prince will one day be King and that is why he was the Prince of Wales we should concentrate on more important issues such as housing our locals" and told Dafydd Iwan that she was "proud to work for the Town Council for free even though others were earning well from the council but would not name names". She believes that Caernarfon should welcome another Investiture at the castle if William became the next Prince of Wales.

The concern by the presenter seemed to be that the Prince was not elected by the public, but it did not seem to wash with most of the locals present. One or two phoned in to suggest Dafydd Iwan was the real Prince of Wales.

Local historian T Meirion Hughes said that it was up to the youngsters of today to choose if they wanted Wales to continue under the Royal Standard. He talked of "tension" when he remembered the last Investiture. He recalled the small boy who lost his leg due to an unexploded bomb which went off five days after the Investiture. He said the town was very sad about this event and added that this was something we did not want to see in Caernarfon ever again.

 
BBC's colour coverage in 1969