Is Wales a principality?

It may well be a good branding strategy or tagline, but it's wrong.
(Pic : moneymarketing.co.uk)

TL;DR version – No.

I suppose you're expecting a bit more than that.

Wales is often called a "principality", and even our great and good make that mistake. I don't think it's down to deliberate ignorance, just a result of centuries of old wives tales as well as a legacy left by Wales' own native monarchy.

Whether a country is a principality or not depends on the title of the head of state. The head of state is a different role to head of government (they're rarely combined) and is usually the highest-ranking position in a nation's constitution.

In short, a principality is a nation state where the head of state is a prince or princess. Liechtenstein, Monaco and tonight's football opponents for Wales, Andorra, are principalities. Luxembourg is a Grand Duchy because their monarch holds the title of grand duke (an old Germanic title that's more senior than a prince but less so than a king or queen).

Wales' head of state is whoever's monarch (king or queen) of the United Kingdom. Wales is no more a principality than England or Scotland are.

Wales could only ever be a principality if it were independent and the head of state were a prince or princess (see : A Welsh Monarchy). Even if Wales became independent and retained the current monarchy, it couldn't be a principality, it would be a kingdom.

As alluded to earlier, the situation in Wales is a little more complicated because a large part of Wales (what is now Gwynedd, Flintshire, Conwy, Denbighshire, Anglesey, Carmarthenshire, Powys and Ceredigion) used to be an independent state/collection of independent states ruled by a prince(s) – a true "principality".

After the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, the Prince of Wales retained a direct constitutional role in the governance of Wales. Wales was a semi-independent vassel state of England, and the Prince of Wales was the head of (what would eventually become) the Council of Wales and the Marches - a medieval form of devolution and a sort of "practice run" at ruling a country.

Following the Laws in Wales Acts, the principality, as a legal entity, was abolished. "Prince of Wales" became nothing more than the courtesy title given to the heir to the English throne, and the Council of Wales and the Marches was altered to be run by an appointed Lord President. Wales ceased being a principality at this point, but the name has stuck.

So Chuckles Windsor is a prince without a principality. However, as Duke of Cornwall he does enjoy some feudal rights that could be considered "constitutional" (Towards a Cornish Assembly?).

What is Wales?

What is this?
Or, perhaps more importantly, what do we want it to be?
(Pic : ITV Wales)

Some people perhaps like to think that Wales' non-status as a "principality of England" somehow undermines its nationhood. Well, as Wales isn't a principality at all it does nothing of the sort, but it is worth discussing what precisely Wales "is".

• A nation state is internationally-recognised as the sole sovereign entity that governs a defined territory (aka. independent) with an internationally-recognised political border. The United Kingdom is a nation state; Wales, California, Catalonia and England aren't. If Scotland votes yes next week, they're due to become a nation state in 2016.
• A region is a defined geographical area within a nation state or country, usually for administrative purposes only. It may have some level of unique identity and culture, but it's often considered a local variance of a larger one. Gwynedd is a region of Wales, the Highlands are a region of Scotland, while Greater London or the South East are regions of England.
• A country has a level of affinity and identity above that of a region. That could included a unified culture (with regional variations) that's distinct from neighbouring countries, recognition or acknowledgement as a nationality, a language (not dialect), as well as political, legal, academic, civic and cultural institutions.

In 2011, thanks to lobbying from Leanne Wood AM (Plaid, South Wales Central), Wales was officially granted country status by the International Standards Organisation (ISO).

"Country" and "nation state" are sometimes used interchangably because countries are usually full nation states too. This doesn't mean a "country" has to be independent, as they can be part of a larger union of other countries to form a single nation state (like Spain, Russia and the UK).

So the most accurate description of what Wales is would be a country within a nation state (United Kingdom) or a "constituent country". Those of us who support Welsh independence believe Wales should become a nation state.