all about Wales....

[darth vader]

why is Wales a principality and not a country? What is the difference between a principality and a country? was Wales EVER a country? (well, it did have a king once...)

[bernardo]

Wales is a principality AND a country. A principality is a country which is ruled by a prince instead of a king (like Liechtenstein or Monaco). Before Wales was united as a single country, it was split into different kingdoms, but as a single country it has always had princes, never a king of its own. Since the 13th century the princes of Wales have been the sons of English monarchs, but before that it had its own native princes.

[geofbob]

I don't want to nit-pick, but the nature of Wales's principality is rather different from that of Monaco. The "Prince of Wales" is simply one of the titles of the eldest son of the UK monarch - no eldest son, no PoW (though presumably it would still be referred to as a principality). In Monaco, on other hand, Prince Rainier is the Head of State; and moreover there is provision for female succession, so there could be a Princess of Monaco in her own right, whereas I'm pretty sure that any Princess of Wales, like Diana, would have to be married to the Prince. Incidentally, isn't Lichtenstein a Duchy (ie with a Duke as HoS), rather than a Principality?

[darth vader]

a principality run by a Prince, a duchy run by a Duke - so who runs a country then? :-)

[strozzi]

You're spot on Darth.
However, if I said a count it would retain a sense of decency in the answer.

[bernardo]

Good points geofbob - but yes Liechtenstein is a principality, not a duchy. The ruler of Liechtenstein at the moment is Prince Hans-Adam. You may have been thinking of Luxembourg, which is a Grand Duchy, ruled by Grand Duke Jean (I think) (unless he's dead already).

[archbishop]

I think you will find that Monaco cannot be ruled through the female line. If Prince Albert does not have an heir then Monaco reverts to France.Although it will probably go the way of Andorra. Basically a tax scam.

[geofbob]

I don't feel strongly about this, but Archbishop is wrong on both counts about Monaco. It has been explicitly declared that there will be succession by and/or through Rainier's daughters Caroline or Stephanie, if his son Albert dies childless. And only last year, Monaco and France signed a treaty affirming Monaco's permanent sovereign status; Bernardo, on the other hand, is correct - Liechtenstein IS a Principality; and I WAS thinking of Luxembourg.

[darth vader]

ok thanks everyone. I'm closing this now as we're digressing.......

[bernardo]

Although - to be fair - archbishop was correct until only recently - the constitution of Monaco has only recently been changed to allow female succession

[JerryBringer]

Wales is a country, not a principality. Wales has not been a principality since 1543.

ISO 3166-2 (the official standard for countries and their subdivisions) lists Wales as a country and not a principality.

The reason why people still (after almost 500 years!) think that Wales is a principality is because it has a prince. But, the Prince of Wales does not have a constitutional role (if he did, Wales would be a principality). Monaco and Liechtenstein are principalities because their princes have a constitutional role (they are head of state).