There were few more
anti-Welsh than the Tudors
English royals have
no moral right to
include Wales in their titles
Philip Grice, grandly styling himself Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (one of those meaningless titles that make us the laughing stock of the world) wrote to the Western Mail to criticise a reference to the Queen of England.

Here’s his letter:

SIR - I was very surprised to read that Dr Robyn Lewis, in referring to the Queen as Queen of England, was apparently unaware that The Queen is in fact the Queen of the United Kingdom .

Perhaps it should be "Queendom" and this is what threw the good doctor.

For the Queen is of course the Queen of the United Kingdom due to her descent from the Welshman Henry Tudor - King Henry VII - who united England and Wales through his marriage to Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth, and his defeat in battle of the Yorkist King Richard III. It seems to me in these circumstances, and what with the Queen being half Welsh and all, that if anybody was upset by the present situation it would be Yorkshire people rather than Welsh people.

PHILIP GRICE, Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, Llansteffan Road, Carmarthen

Mr Grice - sorry, sir, LIEUTENANT Grice - fails to grasp the reality of Tudor politics.

After the Battle of Bosworth, the Tudors still needed to prove themselves to the powerful English barons (not just the Yorkists) and they, along with many of the so-called “great” Welsh families, did so by rejecting any Welsh roots to become more English than the English.

That is why many anti-Welsh laws were were left on the statute book and curbs on the Welsh language were introduced. English anti-Welsh sentiments were very strong in mediavel times and during the Tudor era there were few more anti-Welsh than the Turdor hierarcy.

This massive Tudor betrayal led to considerable Welsh discontent that was savagely surpressed, in particular by Henry VIII, who executed (polite word for murdered) tens of thousands of his subjects for dissent, many of them in Wales.

To describe England and Wales as “united” is perverse. The Tudors aimed to eradicate Wales completely by destroying its language and culture and absorbing what remained into England. What they didn’t bargain for was Welsh determination not to let that happen. People are still trying to eradicate our language and culture today, so the struggle goes on.

The traitorous Tudors lost the right to be truly regarded as Welsh and the current royals have no moral right to include Wales in their titles as long as the Welsh continue to be denied the right, in a referendum, to say yes or no.