The chief legal adviser to the Welsh Assembly Government has confirmed that Wales should be referred to as a country, rather than a principality, following representations from a Plaid AM.
Leanne Wood, who represents the South Wales Central region, contacted Counsel General John Griffiths regarding a document drafted by the previous Westminster Government to the United Nations Social and Economic Council.
The paper (see link in the notes section, page 4), described the United Kingdom as consisting of two countries; England and Scotland, the province of Northern Ireland and the principality of Wales. The paper was brought to the attention of Ms Wood by a constituent.
The term principality refers to a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state whose ruling monarch is a prince or a princess with an executive role in administering the state. Since the Prince of Wales has no executive role in administrative control over Wales and has not done for centuries, the term is archaic in constitutional terms.
After Ms Wood pointed out the inaccurate document to Mr Griffiths, he replied in a letter: “I agree that, in relation to Wales, principality is a misnomer and that Wales should properly be referred to as a country.
“Please assure your constituent that the Welsh Assembly Government is committed to promoting Wales as a country both at home and abroad and we will endeavour to ensure that Wales is not referred to as a principality in other reports and papers issued by the UK Government.”
Ms Wood said: “There are numerous public documents in circulation that correctly confer ‘country’ status upon Wales so I was frustrated to learn that the last Labour Government were several centuries out of date with their definition.
“Inaccuracies like this can engender a false impression of Wales and given that this document was circulated to a key council of the United Nations, it had the potential to damage our reputation on an international stage.
“Wales is a proud and vibrant country. Having established the National Assembly more than a decade ago, we are hopefully moving to a point where we can have more control over our destiny.
“Prime Minister David Cameron and the new Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillan, have both been guilty of referring to Wales as a principality in the past. I hope the representations from the Assembly’s Counsel General to the new Con/Dem Coalition Government in Westminster will ensure the same mistake is not made again in the future.”
