William and Kate asked to ‘cut back on frills and faff’ as petition seeks to end Prince of Wales title
LONDON, UK: Kate Middleton and Prince William’s new royal titles of the Prince and Princess of Wales are already facing a backlash from the people of Wales, who are supporting a petition to end the title. Following this, Omid Scobie, the Royal Executive Editor for Yahoo! News has urged the couple to “cut back on unnecessary frills and faff," reports Express UK. William inherited the title from his father, King Charles, after the death of the Queen Elizabeth on September 8.
This was followed by a controversy with the petition on Change.org titled, 'End Prince of Wales title out of respect for Wales,' which has been signed by over 35,900 people who believe that Wales, as a devolved nation with its own parliament, should no longer have a prince. As per the petition, the last native Welsh prince was Llywelyn ap Gryffydd, also known as Llewelyn the Last, and his brother, Dafydd ap Gruffydd. Llywelyn was killed by English soldiers in 1282 and Dafydd was executed by King Edward I in 1283. The English king then gave the title and Caernarfon Castle to his 16-year-old son Edward II. Since then, the title has been used by the British royal family but for decades offended many in Wales. The petition, which was started by Trystan Gruffydd to King Charles, states that "the title remains an insult to Wales and is a symbol of historical oppression."
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The Royal Executive Editor wrote in his column, "William has no plans to carry out the same extravagant investiture his father did when he became the Prince of Wales in 1969. The news was enthusiastically welcomed by people in Wales, who remember all too well the over-the-top ceremony at Caernarfon Castle which saw the Queen place a gold coronet on Charles’ head and drape grand robes around his shoulders. During a time of economic struggles in the country, it was so poorly received that there were protests and even a bomb plot."
Adding further, while talking about the petition, Scobie mentioned, "Given the mixed feelings some people in the country still have about William and Kate’s new titles (over 35,000 have signed a petition calling to end the Prince of Wales moniker, labelling it a symbol of historical oppression), the Royal Family’s ostentatious display of wealth and power is a moment no one is looking to repeat. And with the UK’s ongoing cost of living crisis—which this week saw the Bank of England warn of a “significant” interest rate rise and the British pound hitting a record low against the US dollar—cutting back on unnecessary frills and faff should be part of a concerted effort to ensure that the monarchy does not seem grossly out of touch."