The Historic Constitutional Position of Wales in the UK

Feb 3, 2011
Jennifer Young

Welsh flag flying over Harlech Castle - Photo by Jennifer Young

Wales is a consituent part of the United Kingdom. A principality rather than a kingdom, its constitutional position has evolved over time.

Wales is one of the four countries which make up the United Kingdom (the others being England, Scotland and Northern Ireland). Like the other four it has a long and distinct history, emerging from a jigsaw of local territorial interests to become a single political entity only in the thirteenth century, before becoming subject to English rule during the reign of Edward I.

Edward I and the Welsh Wars

Emerging from its multitude of small kingdoms during the thirteenth century, Wales was first officially united by the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. Under the terms of this treaty, Llywellyn ap Gruffydd was recognised as Prince of a united Wales on the condition that he paid homage to the English King, Edward I.

Llywellyn, however, was uncomfortable with the fealty he had sworn and continually strained against the terms of the treaty, failing to make payments which were due and even daring to marry Eleanor de Montfort, the daughter of one of Edward’s own internal enemies, the rebel barons, Simon de Montfort. His patience pushed beyond its limit, Edward embarked upon military action.

Whether Edward’s invasion of Wales was an over-reaction by a threatened monarch or, as seems more likely, an act of political opportunism, remains unclear. The outcome was never, however, in doubt: the Welsh Wars ended with the defeat and death of Llewellyn (later to be known as ‘the last’) and the subjugation of Wales to English rule under the Statute of Rhuddlan (described by Norman Davies as ‘a dictated peace par excellence’) in 1282.

Davies regards the conquest of Wales as one of the most significant events not just in the history of Wales but of the as-yet unformed United Kingdom. The Statute established the country firmly as a principality under English domination: and allowed Edward, in a piece of political theatre, to create his (English) oldest son as Prince of Wales.

Later Rebellions: Owain Glyn Dwr

The Welsh were not, however, content to remain in such a subservient position. In 1400, during the reign of Henry IV, a number of the Welsh lords, led by Owain Glyn Dwr (Owen Glendower) rose up in rebellion. Wales was recognised by England’s enemy, France, as an independent nation: Glyn Dwr had himself proclaimed Prince of Wales and a Welsh Parliament was briefly established at Machynlleth.

Inevitably, however, what may have initially been regarded an insignificant irritation to the English overlords eventually became a nuisance. Henry moved against the insurgents and Glyn Dwr’s rule (which was never complete in Wales) was ended by force, after some years of guerrilla warfare. Glyn Dwr himself disappeared into the mountains in 1415 and his death is unrecorded: he remains a folk hero.

Wales and the Acts of Union, 1536 and 1543

Wales remained officially separate from its English neighbour until the time of the Tudors. Although Henry V had been born in Wales (at Monmouth) he was not a Welshman; and although Henry VI was Welsh by birth, upbringing and partly through blood his victory at Bosworth Field in 1485 brought him the throne of England not of Wales.

It was not until the reign of Henry VIII that Wales and England were officially united, in political and legal terms, by two Acts of Union (1536 and 1543). These were brought in as part of Henry’s campaign against the Pope, in which the security of his borders against potentially threatening areas of Catholicism, in Scotland and Ireland, was paramount.

The impact of these two Acts was to make the law of England run in Wales and to establish the primacy of the English language over the native tongue. As the historian John Davies notes, this was not an intentional act of suppression but one which sought to simplify the national administration.

Devolution: Modern Wales and the Future

The most recent change in Wales’ constitutional status came in 1992. After many years of pressure for constitutional change from various bodies, a referendum held in 1997 produced a majority – albeit a very narrow one – in favour of some form of devolved government for the principality. Like the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly has powers to make laws in certain areas while others are under the control of Westminster. It does not, however, have tax-raising powers.

A referendum to be held on March 3 2011 will ask voters whether they wish to extend the Assembly’s powers, demonstrating that the role of the nation within the United Kingdom is not fixed. As political influences and movements develop, the constitutional position of Wales, and its relationship to its neighbours, may continue to change.