Wanderlust World Wanderlust World The tradition of investing the heir apparent as Prince of Wales began at Caernarfon Castle in North Wales. In 1301, King Edward I presented his infant son, the future Edward II, to the Welsh nobility at the newly completed fortress—symbolizing English overlordship after the conquest of Gwynedd.
Edward I had defeated Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales, in 1282–83. The 1301 ceremony at Caernarfon—built as a royal palace and administrative center—was a deliberate political theater: the English crown appropriating the title "Prince of Wales" for its own dynasty.
The title is not automatic; it must be created by the monarch. After Edward II, investitures occurred intermittently (Edward III, Henry V, etc.). The modern ceremonial investiture—elaborate public ceremony at Caernarfon—was revived in 1911 for the future Edward VIII and repeated in 1969 for King Charles III (then Prince Charles).
The castle's polygonal towers and banded masonry echo Constantinople's walls, projecting imperial ambition. Its use for investitures reinforces a contested narrative: for some, a symbol of Welsh identity within the Union; for others, a reminder of conquest.
Today, the title is held by Prince William, created Prince of Wales in 2022 by King Charles III—without a formal investiture ceremony, reflecting evolving constitutional sensibilities.