03.11.2005 09:03

To Neville Chamberlain, March 1939: Welsh Nationalists a threat to UK; make Princess Elizabeth 'Duke of Cymru'


In Wartime plan to use Princess to woo Welsh, the Daily Telegraph reports that Edward Iwi, a lawyer and constitutional expert, suggested making the then Princess Elizabeth (now HRH Queen Elizabeth), 'Duke of Cymru' 'to stop the Welsh nationalist movement from becoming a danger in a future war with Nazi Germany' and 'to create a focus of loyalty for the people of north Wales, whose adherence to the British cause was considered suspect.'
Iwi warned of a flourishing nationalist movement in north Wales that threatened to become a copy of the Irish republican movement and a danger to the unity of Great Britain.

The more extreme members were already calling for dominion status like that granted to Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The lawyer gave as an example an arson attack on a RAF depot in Caernarvonshire in 1936 carried out by three Welsh nationalists.
('Cymru' is Welsh, for Wales, and is pronounced Kum'-ree.)