The True Story of Prince Charles's Welsh Lessons With His Tutor Edward Millward
Catching up on previous seasons of The Crown before diving into season five? If you're curious about the Prince Charles's real life Welsh tutor, Dr. Tedi Millward, read on for our story from 2020:
Anybody with even a passing interest in the British royal family knows that Prince Charles's title is the Prince of Wales, but you may not know the fascinating backstory behind his appointment. The Crown's third season spends a lot of time with the 20-year-old Charles, played by Josh O'Connor, and episode five specifically focuses on the semester the royal spent at Aberystwyth University in 1969, in the run-up to his investiture as Prince of Wales.
Titled "Tywysog Cymru"—which means Prince of Wales in Welsh—the episode follows Charles as he is taken out of Cambridge for a semester and sent to Aberystwyth to study the Welsh language on the suggestion of Labour prime minster Harold Wilson, who hopes to promote a spirit of unity between England and Wales.
The core of the episode is the relationship between Charles and his reluctant tutor Dr. Edward "Tedi" Millward (played by actor Mark Lewis Jones), who—in a real "truth is strange than fiction" detail—happens to be the vice president of Plaid Cymru, a political party advocating Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid Cymru had recently won its first seat in parliament at the time, and Welsh nationalism had gained huge momentum along with a push for more public recognition of the Welsh language. Millward is deeply opposed to the royal family and everything they stand for, which makes for some lively exchanges during tutorials.
Many Welsh people were deeply unhappy that an English-born man would once again assume the role of Prince of Wales, and O'Connor's Charles is shown arriving at the university and being met by furious protestors, which reflects the royal's real account of what happened. "Every day I had to go down to the town where I went to these lectures, and most days there seemed to be a demonstration going on against me," he told the Telegraph. Things don't initially go much better for Charles behind closed doors: his fellow students are either disinterested or openly hostile to him, while Millward can't entirely hide his suspicion either. He dismisses Charles as a lightweight with no real interest or respect for Welsh culture, but is ultimately delighted to be proven wrong.
The real Millward briefly reflected on his lessons with Charles in an interview with The Guardian in 2015. "The early '60s was the start of an upsurge in Welsh nationalism that saw the first Plaid Cymru politician elected to parliament," he recalled. "By that point I was a well-known nationalist, so I was a little surprised when the university asked me if I would teach Welsh to Prince Charles for a term. He had a one-on-one tutorial with me once a week. He was eager, and did a lot of talking. By the end, his accent was quite good."
In The Crown's version of events, a bond develops as Charles not only excels at his studies, but also turns out to be unexpectedly sympathetic to the Plaid Cymru cause. The turning point comes when Millward, taking pity on a lonely and friendless Charles, invites his student over for dinner—much to the horror of his wife, who shares her husband's political fervor. But by the end of the evening, both Millwards are won over by Charles, who makes a startlingly candid admission during a conversation about nationalism. "What people really want is self-determination," Millward tells him, "Not being spoken down to, dominated, governed by those so remote that they don't even know you. Know who you are, or what you think, or need."
Charles quietly responds that he knows how that feels, and in his eventual investiture speech, he draws an implicit parallel between his own experience of growing up in the royal family, and the Welsh feeling of being voiceless and oppressed: "Wales has her own identity, her own character, her own will. Her own voice." Millward is thrilled. The Queen, needless to say, is not, and coldly reminds Charles that part of his royal duty is to be politically impartial, adding that "no-one wants to hear" his voice.
Though The Crown's version of Charles's speech isn't faithful to the real version (read the real-life transcript in full here), it's absolutely true that his words raised some eyebrows. According to official cabinet papers released in the year 2000, members of Wilson's government—and specifically the Welsh Secretary George Thomas—were concerned that Charles was making speeches which "boosted Welsh nationalism."
Thomas specifically suggested that Charles had been influenced by Millward, among other contacts at Aberystwyth: "He was subjected to concentrated attention by Welsh Nationalists. His tutor, his neighbour in the next room, and the Principal were all dedicated Nationalists," Thomas wrote. "It has become quite evident to me that the Aberystwyth experience has influenced the Prince to a considerable extent."
Dr. Tedi Millward died in April 2020 at the age of 89. Prince Charles paid tribute to his former tutor following his death, saying:
"I am deeply saddened to hear of Dr Millward's death. I have very fond memories of my time in Aberystwyth with Dr Millward over 51 years ago.
While I am afraid I might not have been the best student, I learned an immense amount from him about the Welsh language and about the history of Wales.
After all these years, I am forever grateful to him for helping foster my deep and abiding love for Wales, her people and her culture.
I send my most heartfelt sympathy to his family."
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