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Prologue

In 2007, a plaque was presented to the Snowdonia Society for placement in the new visitor centre at the summit of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. In the Welsh language, Snowdon is called Yr Wyddfa (meaning ‘the tumulus’) and Snowdonia is Eryri, the ‘lair of eagles’. The medieval princes of Gwynedd called themselves lords of Snowdonia, and even today Baron Snowdon is a lesser royal title (currently held by Prince Philip).

The newly carved plaque was donated by the Princess Gwenllian Society, a flourishing group that aims to preserve the memory of Princess Gwenllian (1282–1337), daughter of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. The dispossessed princess spent most of her life cloistered in a convent in Lincolnshire, courtesy of Edward Longshanks. The Snowdonia National Parks Authority had reservations about the placing of the plaque, however. Perhaps, with its ‘official’ status, the authority did not wish to be associated with anything that smacked of nationalism.

Princess Gwenllian is regarded by many as the last member of the last ‘true’ royal family of Wales, and as such may be seen a figurehead for believers in independence. Yet, even if we temporarily disregard Owain Glyndŵr (who has a society of his own to look after his interests), we will find that Gwenllian was hardly the last of her line. The royal blood she inherited from both parents, a rich mixture of English and Welsh, is to be found in others who survived. Her uncle Rhodri has many surviving direct descendants, as have her great-aunts Gwladus and Elen. That same blood has run through the veins of every British monarch since Wales became part of ‘Great’ Britain and, later, the United Kingdom.