Over-Analyzing the Crown: S3E6 Tywysog Cymru

All My Posts on The Crown
S3: 1 & 2: “Olding” & “Margaretology” 3: “Aberfan” 4: “Bubbikins, 5: “Coup” 6: “Tywysog Cymru” 7: “Moondust" 8: “Dangling Man” 9: “Imbroglio” 10: “Cri de Coeur”
S4: 1: “Gold Stick” 2: “The Balmoral Test” 3: “Fairytale” ( + Cinderella References) 4: “Favourites” 5: “Fagan” 6: “Terra Nullius” 7: ”The Hereditary Principle” 8: “48:1” 9: “Avalanche”
The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown; Tiaras/Crowns Overviews: Season 1 ; Season 2

Prince Charles learns Welsh from a Welsh nationalist and becomes a Wale himself when he’s invested as Prince of Wales. (Clearly, my summaries of these episodes are not going to be very in-depth or serious, as I’m assuming you’ve watched the episode already if you’re reading my post overanalyzing it. :D )

The name of the episode translates to “Leader of Wales” in Welsh, or in this context, “Prince of Wales.” This ties back into the entire Prince Charles in Wales plot line and particularly, his discussion with Professor Milward about Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last Welsh Prince of Wales, who was killed in battle by Edward I in 1282. Edward’s son (also Edward because, English royals have no creativity when it comes to naming) , was invested as the first English Prince of Wales in 1301.

Professor Edward Millward and Prince Charles

Mark Lewis Jones as Professor Edward Millward in The Crown

The episode starts off with the Cabinet meeting in which the investiture of the Prince of Wales is discussed. The previous investiture in 1911 was of the eventual Edward VII. We know him as David, Duke of Windsor, who abdicated within a year of becoming King in order to marry Wallis Simpson. He was invested at age 17; Charles was not invested until he was 20.
In case you were wondering, a formal investiture ceremony is not necessary to become the Prince of Wales; the actual title is conveyed via letters patent. It is not a hereditary title, so the sovereign does have to create and bestow the title on his/her eldest living son (When Elizabeth became Queen in 1952, the then-3-years-old Charles automatically became the Duke of Cornwall).
Edward/David was made Prince of Wales on his 16th birthday, over a year before the formal investiture; Charles was actually declared Prince of Wales when he turned 9. The 1911 one was made public for political reasons; the Prime Minister at the time, David Lloyd George, thought that the event would calm down the growing swell of Welsh Nationalism and increase his own popularity. Apparently previous investitures were quite a bit more private and less ceremonial. As was mentioned in the episode in the Cabinet meeting, the 1911 investiture included a deployment of 15,000 troops, a Devonshire-class cruiser, 21 gun salutes, a battery of Royal Field Artillery, a landing party supplied by the blue jackets and the royal marines, two squadrons of cavalry of the line. During this meeting, Wilson is flanked on either side by female members of his cabinet in Orange and Green; when he’s talking to the Queen about the investiture, she herself is wearing green. You’ll see a LOT of green and pinks/oranges in this episode, which seems to signal “Wales” without coming off too Christmassy.
Sidenote that I just love: at the 1911 investiture, Queen Mary wore several pieces given to her by a group of women who were all named “Mary.”

Prince Edward (David)’s 1911 investiture as Prince of Wales

Prince Edward (David)’s investiture as Prince of Wales

Additional Note: Elizabeth was never given the title “Princess of Wales.” At the time, the line of succession was determined by male preference primogeniture, so she became “the heiress presumptive” when her father became King. If her father had had a legitimate son, that son would have taken precedence, and would have been the “heir apparent”; thus, named the “Prince of Wales.”
“Princess of Wales” has only been used to refer to the Prince of Wales’ wife in the past (Though Prince Charles’ wife Diana went by the Princess of Wales, his second wife Camilla uses the title “Duchess of Cornwall” instead, due to the title’s strong association with Diana). Technically though, “Princess FIRSTNAME” is only the correct title to use when the Princess of Wales is a princess in her own right, e.g., she herself is the daughter of a sovereign of another country (so neither “Princess Diana” or “Princess Kate” are correct).
It’s a bit unclear whether that tradition will continue now that male preference primogeniture has been abolished in the UK (the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 replace this system with absolute primogeniture, making it so the eldest child of the sovereign is always the heir to the throne, regardless of sex. This act also removed the requirement to get the sovereign’s permission to marry and changed the rules so that royals marrying Roman Catholics can still remain in the line of succession).
Fun Fact: A whole new set of Welsh honours (coronet, rod, ring, sword, and a robe with doublet and sash) were made for Prince Edward in 1911. The rod, ring, and sword all feature the Welsh dragon. The rod, ring, and sword were reused for Prince Charles’s investiture in 1969, but a new coronet had to be made, as Edward/David had actually illegally taken his coronet with him when he went into exile. After his death, it was retrieved and taken back to the UK. This coronet is now part of the Crown Jewels, along with the 1728 coronet of Frederick, the eldest son of George II. Charles’s own coronet is part of the honours of Wales.
This article from Town & Country talks a lot more about all the design of Charles’s coronet and is super interesting.

Prince Edward/David’s Coronet (Credit: Royal Collection Trust).

Prince Charles’ Coronet (Credit: Royal Collection Trust).

Josh O’Connor vs. Prince Charles. MATCHING EARS. — Josh O’Connor vs. Prince Charles (Credit: Tim Graham / Getty). MATCHING EARS.

When the Queen gathers the family to tell Prince Charles that he has to go to study in Wales, the Queen is wearing green and Anne is wearing red, the colors of the Welsh flag, while everyone else is in blues and blacks. It’s a little hard to see, but Charles is actually wearing a green and orange tie and a matching pocket square.
I know that dramatically it makes sense to have the entire family on one side and then poor Charles alone on the opposite, as it makes him look very alone as he’s feeling upset about being sent off away from everyone, but in real life, it’s a bit odd and impractical. This set up also seems to evoke a vague military feel, possibly referring to the “feudal invasion” of military members participating in the previous investiture of the prince of Wales that Prime Minister Wilson joked about earlier.
This actor (Josh O’Connor) doesn’t look much like Charles from the front, but from the back, they’re really similar. It’s the ears!

The prince’s safety in Wales is never discussed in the episode (although we do see his ever-present body guards), but historically, there were actual threats made against his life. Two members of a small secret group called Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (The Movement for the Defence of Wales) were actually killed in Abergele when the bomb they were carrying to a railway line (along which the royal train would run) exploded. A few days later, a bomb left in the town exploded and hurt a young boy.
I learned while researching this episode that many supporters of Plaid Cymru actually backed the monarchy; they wanted Wales to become a dominion, like Canada or Australia. If this happened the Queen would still be the head of state. It was the younger branch of Plaid Cymru that was really anti-monarchy and against the investiture. This anti-monarchy branch was highly motivated by the destruction of Capel Celyn, one of the last Welsh-only speaking communities, which was flooded to build a reservoir to provide water to Liverpool (which is discussed later in the episode).
The tiny little facial expressions of Milward and the students around them when Charles first attempts to pronounce Welsh and mangles it terribly tell just so much about their feelings toward Charles, the English, and their presence in Wales.
Later, Millward righteously reams out Charles for his indifference to Welsh culture and the meaning of his role to both Wales and the university. Though this is probably deserved, Milward’s barb about how previous Prince of Wales never visited is actually misplaced when you look at the historical evidence. King George V was actually considered a very good prince of Wales while he held the title, and had taken a personal interest in Wales. In addition, Edward/David was a hugely popular Prince of Wales who definitely did visit. He served with distinction in World War One and, during the Depression years, toured the badly hit parts of Britain and the Welsh mining valleys in particular.
When Charles comes in to show Milward that he’s been to the library and learned about Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, there’s a family tree on the chalkboard behind him that of Llewellyn’s actual family, indicating that Milward really did plan to teach him about it that day. In that embarrassing staff dinner scene, Millward had joked to everyone “we’ll go over that this week.”
Poor Charles. His line “It’s alright, I’m incredibly used to it.” about being alone and having no friends makes me so sad.
I hadn’t realized that Mrs. Milward is literally on the phone with someone talking about how she can’t understand how her husband can even stand to be in the same room with Charles while Charles is bringing groceries in. It’s sweet how he actually is carrying the groceries in and tries to help.
Milward is wearing light green at his house, is often lit with green light, and there are often paintings or decorations around him that are green, green folders. This is a WELSH man! His pregnant wife is also wearing a pink, white and green dress (with some orange too), like a pale version of the Welsh flag. Later that night, she literally wears a pink, white, and green nightgown.
The scene where Elizabeth and Philip reminisce over the time their parents kept them apart for four months to try to get her to stop loving him is so cute (although I hate that Philip says his son shouldn’t be trusted with editing his own speech and Elizabeth just goes along with it). They seem like such a happy, healthy couple this season. This conversation will be echoed a few episodes later when Camilla Shand comes into the picture and other members of Charles’ family come up with a similar plot to separate the two.
They don’t emphasize Charles’ security team as much as they did in the S2E9 episode Paterfamilias, probably because he’s 20 now and not a child, but they are always around, just around the corner. It’s subtle, but you do see a quick glimpse of his security team going through people’s bags and such right before the ceremony.
The filming style of this episode really emphasize the green hills of Wales as the royal train goes through the countryside. Although the Queen, Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret all wear clothes that are almost exactly what they wore in real life, they are indeed in pink, cream, and green, which echo the Welsh flag. Anne is in blue, which also is historically accurate, but seems also to indicate her close ties to Charles. All of these hats are accurate (and some of them are just ridiculous). The queen’s hat kind of makes her look like a pearl beaded volleyball.
Sidenote: Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Princess Margaret in Season 3, is 6 inches shorter than Vanessa Kirby, who played Princess Margaret in Season 1 and 2. However, Bonham Carter is significantly closer to Princess Margaret’s actual height; Margaret was 5’2”. Queen Elizabeth herself is 5’4”; Claire Foy (who played her in season 1 and 2) is 5’4” and Olivia Colman (who plays her in Season 3) is 5’7”.

Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, and the Queen Mother Elizabeth at Prince Charles’s investiture as Prince of Wales (Credit: Anwar Hussein / Getty).

Erin Doherty as Princess Anne, Marion Bailey as the Queen Mother, and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret in The Crown.

Prince Charles always seems to be wearing blue or grey (maybe because he’s sad?). I’m happy that this season shows Charles’s continued close connection with his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten; I loved seeing Dickie advocate for Charles in the S2 episode Paterfamilias.
Millward wears a blue paisley tie when watching Charles’ investiture in the pub, matching Charles’s standard color scheme. I think this symbolizes their connection and friendship. He’s surrounded by lots of friends wearing various shades of green and red. Mrs. Milward and her son are in blue, plus green, showing their connection to both Charles and Welsh pride.
Milward looks SO PROUD when Charles pronounces atmosphere correctly-ish in Welsh.
There are several interesting things about Charles’ investiture that aren’t mentioned in the episode. The actual ceremony of the investiture sounds very old, but was in fact only created for the 1911 occasion. Lord Snowdon (Tony Armstrong-Jones, Princess Margaret’s husband), who himself was Welsh, designed the event and the simple slate dais for the ceremony.
A lot of the insignia used in the investiture is really symbolic and you could go down a very deep rabbit hole in learning about it all. The College of Arms has some great photographs and scans of programs explaining the meaning of all the insignia here, if you’d like to learn more.
You can actually watch some of the 1911 ceremony on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J31P5ES45fw . Prince Charles’s 1969 investiture is on YouTube in full at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7zaLuA_DGI.
It is really wonderful that Charles actually went on a tour around Wales to meet people after his investiture. It was a really successful tour and BBC actually has a lot of footage of it up on their website.
Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s Labour government also built an entire year-long campaign called Croeso 69 (Welcome ‘69). They wanted to use it to show a modern Wales, promote tourism, and demonstrate British interest while Welsh nationalism was on the rise.

Queen Elizabeth, Princess Anne, and Prince Charles at Charles’ Investiture as Prince of Wales. — Queen Elizabeth, Princess Anne, and Prince Charles at Charles’ Investiture as Prince of Wales (Credit: Bettmann / Getty).

Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II and Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles in The Crown.

The last scene between the Queen and Prince Charles, as she’s getting ready for bed, is shot to indicate the great distance between the queen and her son while they’re talking. She is barely repressing her fury at her son for changing up his speech.
The queen refers to her grandmother telling her that doing nothing is the hardest thing to do of all. We saw that conversation in S1E4 episode Act of God, when Queen Elizabeth goes to Queen Mary for advice about whether she should talk to Winston Churchill during the Great Smog.
We see how angry the queen is with her son in this scene, but we also saw how protective she was of him earlier, both when she advocated him for staying at Cambridge to Wilson and when she suggested he be allowed to make changes to his speech (which he ends up doing on his own). She also is wearing blue in this scene, signifying her sympathies with her son, even when they’re disagreeing most stridently with each other. Charles himself is wearing the same green and orange tie and pocket square that he wore when he was told he was going to Wales, although his suit appears to have more of a greenish tinge now. There’s a subtle checked square pattern (with each square containing a circle) in both his tie and his mother’s robe, further illustrating their bond as sovereign and heir.

“I have a voice.” “Let me let you into a secret. No one wants to hear it.” “Are you talking about you or the country?” “No one.” This is one of the saddest moments ever to happen in The Crown.
If you want to learn more about the Queen and Prince Philip’s approach to parenting, this article gets into it a bit.
If we’re going off of Prince Philip’s earlier observation from S3E2 Margaretology about how the royal family tends to have a lot of dull people and sparkling people (Lillibets and Margarets), Charles seems to be a bit more the Margaret of this generation and Anne seems to be a bit more the Lillibet, resigned to her place and willing to do her duty (despite how similar her personality is to her father’s).

Prince Charles with the Dryden Society at Cambridge (Credit: PA / Getty).

Prince Charles with the Dryden Society (Credit: Bettman / Getty).

Though Charles did perform with a drama society while at Cambridge, it looks like they did more comedic sketches rather than Shakespearean drama. Some of the photographs of him rehearsing with the Dryden Society (as it was called) are just hilarious.
At the very end of the episode, Charles performs the hollow crown speech from Shakespeare’s play Richard II. Both Charles and Richard II were given the title Prince of Wales at age 9, the former in 1958 and the latter in 1376. The text is specifically from Richard II Act 3, Scene II, when Richard has pretty much reached his lowest point. Most of his supporters are dead and he feels terribly alone and very vulnerable. It is a good echo for Prince Charles’s own feelings of despair about his role as heir to the throne and a dramatic, if terribly sad, way to end the episode.

For within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable, and humour'd thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!
Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence: throw away respect,
Tradition, form and ceremonious duty,
For you have but mistook me all this while:
I live with bread like you, feel want,
Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,
How can you say to me, I am a king?