At the age of 21, the still heir to the crown in Great Britain gave a historic speech at the Caernarfon castle in the act of Investiture as Prince of Wales. The acclaimed series ‘The Crown’ recounts it in detail. Before reaching the age of majority, young Carlos studied at the University of Cambridge until he was transferred to Wales for a year to learn about the culture and customs of the country. His mother, Queen Elizabeth, conceived that act as a way to build bridges and, incidentally, appease nationalist movements resurfaced after World War II.
The Welsh cultural heritage was in danger of being eroded by Anglo-American customs. A language spoken by only a quarter of the population, especially in the north of the country, was dying. He Tyweryn case was the trigger. The fact that a rural Welsh-speaking village of Capel Celyn was evicted to build a reservoir to supply water to the city of Liverpool despite unanimous opposition from members of the Welsh Parliament raised the spirits.
A republican and nationalist professor He was in charge of teaching the young prince Welsh. The fuse lit because his speech delivered in the native language served to create a bond with Wales that still lasts. As in that region everything or almost everything revolves around rugby, the British royal family knew how to satisfy the inhabitants of a nation that little by little were losing their cultural traits at the same time that the crisis, which was devastating especially the steel sector, was suffocating.
Since the beginning of the last century the actual presence in rugby matches it was already quite common. There are 1920 pictures in the Queen´s Club in London where the then King George V He greets the captains of the Army (Army) and RAF (Royal Air Force) on the field or when he went to the mythical Twickenham field. His son Alberto, who reigned under the name of George VI, was also a regular at international matches or at those at Oxford and Cambridge universities.
After his death in 1952, his daughter Isabel inherited his crown and became, at the same time, Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union until in 2016, when she turned 90, she gave the junk of the more than 600 charities or institutions of which she was patron to various members of the royal family. The honor of representing Welsh rugby went to his grandson, the Prince Guillermo, who was already a vice patron of the foundation since 2007.
This desire to be loved by the members of the British crown led on occasion to several of its most distinguished members making an appearance sporadically on the rugby fields. The list is short as well as representative because it includes the Prince Philip of Edinburgh (the queen’s husband), as well as his children and grandchildren, as well as the Prince of Wales himself who had the detail of becoming royal patron of a Welsh club called Llandovery Rugby Club.
The passion for rugby of the children of Carlos and Dianatherefore, it was not inherited. His paternal grandfather (Felipe de Edimburgo) was a passionate aviation pilot and watching rugby matches was sensed as something inherent to the position. So the Duke of Cambridge was the pioneer in the family to put his oval ball skills to use at the elite Eaton College. Eddie Redmayne, the Oscar-winning actor for ‘The theory of everything’, coincided with Guillermo on the team. He confessed that he was “sorry” for how badly the crown prince’s eldest son had a bad time because everyone wanted to boast of having tackled a member of the royal family.
His brother Harry is the current patron in England of the Rugby Football Union. Although he did not get to practice it, he does consider himself a fan of rugby, something that he has shown in his few public appearances since he decided to voluntarily abandon his obligations as a member of the British royal family. In one of them, he announced from his residence in Santa Bárbara (California) that his dream and that of his wife Meghan Markle it was that his son Archie might one day become a rugby player. Harry even participated in a video posted on Instagram by England Rugby within a campaign called ‘Pitch In’ during the suspension of the competition due to the coronavirus in order for English clubs to promote campaigns aimed at promoting food to the most needy people or essential personnel who worked to try to stop the pandemic.
The sibling rivalry As far as rugby is concerned, it became visible in the last edition of the World Cup held last year in Japan. Wales and England were playing. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were among the crowd seated next to Harry. When it came to singing the hymns, Guillermo sang with the same feeling as any other Welshman The Land of My Fathers dressed in his red jacket with the feather emblem of the Prince of Wales. Before the game, the eldest son had gone down to the locker room to cheer on the players.
His words, depending on who plays them, were more or less the following: “Unfortunately I will be watching the game with my brother, so I will need you to win more than ever.” When it was time to sing the English anthem ‘God save the queen’ in honor of his grandmother, only Harry, dressed in the rose shirt, sang it. Guillermo did not move a muscle in his face.
The English heart press began to take notice of rugby in 1995, just the year in which rumors appeared, never denied or confirmed, of a possible relationship between the former English captain. Will Carling and Diana Spencer when both were still married to their respective partners. Lady Di’s shadow is elongated. The one who would have been his daughter-in-law knows it well. The presence Kate Middleton In a match played in Cardiff in 2017 between Wales and France he captured all the flashes for a few moments. A showy red coat from Carolina Herrera matching the color of the Welsh jersey served as inspiration for many headlines.
As well Zara Phillips, daughter of princess ana and, therefore, cousin of Guillermo and Harry, became overnight a target of the paparazzi. They began to persecute her in 2003, as a result of starting a romantic relationship Mike Tindall, another international rugby player whom he met the same year he won the World Cup with England. The fact is that the life of the new boyfriend at that time was somewhat unruly and gave a lot of play to the press. In fact, he was arrested twice for drunk driving.
The hardest the couple had to endure was in 2011, when already married to Zara, Tindall was forced to publicly apologize after being caught red-handed in a New Zealand bar when he was concentrating with his team participating in a contest launch of people with achondroplasia (dwarfs) and in the company of beautiful young ladies. The patroness of the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) is Zara’s mother, a Murrayfield regular. His son-in-law tells a funny anecdote that stars Princess Anne. In 2011 England won the Calcutta Cup against Scotland. Among the spectators were the queen’s daughter and her granddaughter. Tindall, who acted as captain, was injured during the match and could barely walk so his teammate Nick Easter offered to collect the trophy. “No, friend,” said the princess’s son-in-law, “that glass is given by my mother-in-law and that will be a moment that I really want to savor.”
Ana’s passion for rugby has also brought her problems. And it is that on one occasion more than 16,000 euros from the public treasury in hiring a private jet to fly to Rome just to watch a match of his team against Italy. Despite the fact that the trip was made in her capacity as patron of the SRU, the criticisms arose because a simple round-trip plane ticket cost just over one hundred euros. Although the British royal family does not arouse great passions in Scotland, Princess Anne does well. He always winked at Sean Connery’s countrymen. His son Peter, the fruit of his first marriage to captain Mark Phillips, came to play for Scotland’s under 18s while studying at Gordonstoun public school. The question is not trivial because Peter is the eldest grandson of Queen Elizabeth – some say his favorite – and the sixth in line of succession to the crown. However, the affection came from before. Not only for his assiduous presence at rugby matches when he played the XV del Cardo, but also for the detail of marrying his daughter Zara in Canongate Kirk, a parish located in the old town of Edinburgh where the remains of the economist lie Adam Smith.
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