The ceremonial opening of the Senedd was the King’s first as monarch, and it came with a side order of protest outside.
LONDON, England (Crown and Clown) – Devolution has a way of testing the monarchy’s manners. A new Welsh Parliament term begins, a King arrives to open it, and somewhere on the pavement outside a group of demonstrators makes the case for abolishing the whole arrangement. All three things happened in Cardiff, and each of them tells us something about the state of the Crown.
A first for this King and Queen
According to the ITV News Wales report, the ceremonial opening of the Senedd follows a Welsh election and marks the start of the seventh term. It was the first such opening that Charles has attended as King. The couple last went in 2021, when Queen Elizabeth II opened the sixth Senedd. The ceremonial detail was dense: a Royal Navy Guard of Honour gave a Royal Salute, a mace-bearer led Members into the Siambr, and the King’s Harpist, Mared Pugh Evans, performed.
The Royal website account adds the cast list. Llywydd Huw Irranca-Davies gave opening remarks, the King spoke briefly, and First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth made remarks of his own, before the Merched Plastaf Choir sang. The royal party also met party leaders, members of the Welsh Youth Parliament, Senedd Members and representatives of community and youth organisations.
What the King told the Senedd
The Press Association report in the Irish News says the King spoke of his “special connection” with Wales, drawing on its language, culture and landscape, and urged Members to rely on shared strengths as they set about governing. He finished with a blessing in Welsh. The same report says he was touched by the presence of people from the Aberfan community, a theme that carried straight into the following week’s anniversary visit.
LBC’s account gives the line in which he told Members they would draw on those strengths as they take forward “your task of government”. That phrase is worth a second look. It is a careful, constitutional sort of sentence, acknowledging that the work belongs to the elected body, and that the Crown’s role is to mark the moment, not to join in.
A bigger Senedd and a new system
The politics of the occasion are easy to miss. ITV News reported the day before that the Llywydd described the opening as “a new chapter in the Senedd’s history,” and that the new Senedd is larger and elected under a new system meant to better reflect the range of views in Wales. That is a significant change to the machinery of a devolved legislature, and it deserves more attention than a royal speech usually earns. The First Minister, Mr ap Iorwerth, leads Plaid Cymru. The sources I have read do not set out the election result, and they do not describe Plaid’s position on the monarchy, so I will not guess at it.
What can be said is simple. The King addressed a newly elected, larger legislature that is starting afresh under a new voting system. In that setting, the monarch is the familiar, unchanging part of the picture while almost everything else about the chamber is new. Whether that is reassuring or faintly irritating depends on your view of the Crown.
The ceremony also shows how the Crown handles devolution in practice: it turns up, it speaks briefly, and it leaves the governing to those who were elected. The Royal website account notes that the couple met party leaders as well as the First Minister, which is a reminder that the occasion belongs to the whole chamber and not only to the party that leads the government. That is the right instinct for an institution whose usefulness rests on being seen as above the fray.
- Setting: the start of the seventh Senedd term in Cardiff.
- Royal first: the first opening attended by the King and Queen in their present roles.
- Outside the chamber: chants and placards against the monarchy.
Protest on the pavement
The PA report says anti-monarchy chants were heard as the couple arrived, and that protesters held placards calling for the monarchy to be abolished. It also records that one man was arrested on suspicion of breaching police conditions under Section 14 of the Public Order Act. I have no further detail on that arrest and make no suggestion about it either way.
Republican protest at royal events is not new, and a monarchy that rests on public consent should expect to hear from people who withhold it. The sensible response, in my view, is neither alarm nor dismissal. The size of the crowd was not reported, so it would be wrong to read the chants as a verdict on Wales. They are a reminder that the question is live, and that polling and campaigning will keep returning to it.
A light word for Londoners
If you came here for the constitution and want something less weighty, London humor news has a pleasantly irreverent view of the capital, and Britain’s answer to the Onion is another route into the comedy side. For readers who like a rulebook, what commentary is and what it is not explains the difference between reporting and wit.
I write about the Crown and Westminster for The London Prat, where there is more of my royal and Westminster reporting at The London Prat, and the wider mix of humor and news lives at Bohiney Magazine. The Senedd will carry on legislating whatever anyone chants outside, which is the quiet strength of the arrangement.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/