Tuesday was William and Catherine’s first trip to Wales as the new Prince and Princess of Wales, the heir apparent to the British throne.
To welcome the royal couple, a sizable crowd gathered at Holyhead Marina on the island of Anglesey, off the northwest coast of Wales.
When William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away and his father, the former prince of Wales, became king, William inherited the title.
According to news sources, William had no intentions for “any form” of investiture at the time of the visit.
Prior to being crowned by his mother in a televised ceremony at Caernarfon Castle in July 1969 when he was 20 years old, King Charles III spent time studying Welsh in university.
The queen assisted in wrapping robes around Charles’ shoulders and placing a coronet on his head during the lengthy investiture ritual.
“I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liege man of life and limb,” he swore fealty to his mother.
According to the local Press Association news agency, William was more concerned with gradually earning the confidence and esteem of the Welsh people than preparing for an investiture.
While aware of the tradition attached to the position, his wife Catherine desired to forge “her own path,” a royal insider was cited as saying in the days following the queen’s passing on September 8.
The First Minister of Wales and avowed republican, Mark Drakeford, and William spoke on the phone at the same time. During their chat, the prince expressed his “great fondness for Wales.”
The prince “expressed his and the Princess of Wales’s honour in being invited by the monarch to serve the Welsh people,” according to a report. The prince previously worked as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot while residing on Anglesey with Catherine.
In the days following his mother’s passing, King Charles and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, paid a visit to Wales as part of a tour to the UK’s home countries.
William’s “passion for this corner of the Earth” had been “made all the stronger,” he claimed in an address to the Welsh assembly.
