On Monday, 11 December we will be commemorating Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, or Llywelyn ein Llyw Olaf, Llywelyn the Last. Llywelyn was the first, of course, to be acknowledged Prince of Wales, and through the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267 the King of England, Henry III, had to accept terms and acknowledge that he was the leader of Wales and that Wales was an independent country, to all intents and purposes. Llywelyn introduced a civil service and a taxation system to administer Wales under his leadership. But this order was not acceptable to Edward I, of course, and he forced Llywelyn to surrender land and return to his stronghold in Gwynedd, having lost ground.

In March 1282 a rebellion began as Welshmen attacked Hawarden castle in Flintshire in order to regain lost lands. But the rebellion came to an end six months later, with Llywelyn having been separated from his 7,000-strong army, and killed in Cilmeri by Stephen de Frankton, one of Edward I’s soldiers. His head was sent to the king in London and was paraded through the streets of London to be shown to the people of the city, before being left upon an iron post outside the Tower of London.

Within months, Gwynedd lost all its royal insignia and Wales lost its status for the time. I will be wearing ivy on Monday and I would suggest that you should all do so in memory and commemoration of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, and to demonstrate that the independent spirit of Llywelyn the Last Prince of Wales is still alive.