> > A surprizing number of Welsh (to the U.S., anyway) find a Prince of Wales as > important. So, I was wondering, would many Wales find it acceptable to have > a seperate monarchy headed by Prince Andrew or Prince Edward, or some > prominant Welsh family? !!!!!!!!??????? I doubt if you could muster much support for this idea - let me rephrase that- ANY support for this. There are many problems with this - 1. Any monarchists in Wales (~40% of the population maybe, anybody else want a guess?) would not support 'splitting' the present royal family. They tend to be loyal to the english state, and wouldn't like any degree of independence, constitutionally speaking. Welsh-speakers to a large degree, especially the under 40s probably want to see most of the royal family shot. (not literally you understand, they just don't support them. :-) ) 2. Princes Andrew and Edward are something of a national joke on this side of the pond. You have no idea how funny the idea of one of these two heading a monarchy is. Prince Andrew is seen as a 'lad' - out drinking and cavorting with his navy chums, while prince Edward's new (first?) girlfriend is seen by many as a PR exercise to hide the embarrassing (to the uptight royals) fact that he's gay. I doubt if he is, that would be too interesting, but he's certainly a wet fart. 3. I doubt that there is a prominent we A royalty not English or British, seperate and > Welsh. Can any Cymry trace their family history to Llywelyn II ? I don't know for certain if anybody can produce the lineage, but an extended family that I know some members of (there are about 90-odd cousins) claim to be descended, but then again, with Wales being so small, and up until recently with fairly static communities, it would not suprise me that hundreds if not thousands of welshmen/women could trace their family back to Llywelyn's. > Next, when did Welsh Not end? There was some debate a couple of years ago as to whether it was ever widespread at all (I think the guy who proposed this was proved wrong; does anyone remember?), but I think that it died out in the first two decades of this century. This is mainly recollected from school history lessons, don't place any bets! > And, my mother has what many call Welsh thumbs. Her thumbs are sorta round > at the end. It is hard to explain, however if you know what I am talking > about, then are Welsh thumbs distinctive of Welsh decendency? I don't know. Some welsh people have distinctive genetic differences, but I can't remember anything about thumbs. Please note - I'm not trying to make any point about welsh person = welsh genes. non-welsh genes = "not a proper welshman" or anything like that. I don't think that you could pick out a 'welsh' genotype anyway - there was a major survey done a few years back....anybody? > Lastly, is the surname Evan, as in Gwynifor Evans, English? No. It's from Ifan. > Thanks!!! > -- Illtud Daniel Computing Officer, Jesus College, Oxford. idaniel@jesus.ox.ac.uk