is wales a country or principality???

bungaro79

heard this question asked before and have always wondered what the answer was since no-one seemed to be sure. prince charles is the prince of wales so does this make it a principality or does the title actually mean anything?? this isn't a wind-up, visited wales for the first time last year and they seem to be really proud of their celtic heritage and all were keen to stress they were very different to the english.
same thing with scotland, is the whole reason they are in the uk for the economic benefits??? any sporting occasion and they seem to be all about us against them so why do they stay part of the uk??
this isn't an english bashing history thing, just never seemed to get a definitive answer from anyone!!

Gordon

It's a state. of mind.

Hank_Jones

It's a country alright, have their own football/rugby teams and all.

jd007

Hank_Jones wrote: »

It's a country alright, have their own football/rugby teams and all.

And the rugby team is playing shíte at the moment!

A mammel

bungaro79

jd007 wrote: »

And the rugby team is playing shíte at the moment!

james hook is just after getting me points on the fantasy rugby, the last ten mins should be interesting!

Mint Sauce

its a country, along with contries of england and scotland, all three form the island of great britain

Xluna

You're all wrong. :cool: It's a principality. Before Irish independence the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland comprised of the Kingdoms of England,Ireland,Scotland and the principality of Wales. It's still a principality.

Mike 1972

Monaco is a principality and they seem to be doing ok ?

ejmaztec

bungaro79 wrote: »

heard this question asked before and have always wondered what the answer was since no-one seemed to be sure. prince charles is the prince of wales so does this make it a principality or does the title actually mean anything?? this isn't a wind-up, visited wales for the first time last year and they seem to be really proud of their celtic heritage and all were keen to stress they were very different to the english.
same thing with scotland, is the whole reason they are in the uk for the economic benefits??? any sporting occasion and they seem to be all about us against them so why do they stay part of the uk??
this isn't an english bashing history thing, just never seemed to get a definitive answer from anyone!!

They're separate countries, and only part of the UK for historical reasons. They probably dislike the English, but not as much as some people here do.

The reason that they don't hate them with a vengeance is that, whatever the English did to them happened centuries ago, and not as recently as the dirty that was done by them here.

Run_to_da_hills

Wales is nothing more than a provence to the EU since Gordon Browne sold out the country. :mad:

bungaro79

read in the paper this week mike that if the ruling family don't have a living heir when they die that it ceases to be a principality, in monaco that is

ssaye

Its both

ejmaztec

Xluna wrote: »

You're all wrong. :cool: It's a principality. Before Irish independence the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland comprised of the Kingdoms of England,Ireland,Scotland and the principality of Wales. It's still a principality.

I bet it wasn't a Welshman who came up with that.:P

brummytom

One of our Geography teachers taught us that England, Wales and Scotland are all Principalities within the 'country' of Great Britain. Not sure if he was being serious

fuelinjection

There is a Prince of Wales, but not of Scotland. I don't know the history behind that is to be honest.

I would say Wales is a just a Principality, but Scotland have a lot more independance and if the SNP in Scotland get their way it will be a Republic like us. Also the new Welsh Assembly make them a bit more self-ruling like Northern Ireland.

ejmaztec

fuelinjection wrote: »

There is a Price of Wales, but not of Scotland. I don't know the history behind that is to be honest.

I would say Wales is a just a Pricipality, but Scotland have a lot more indepence and if the SNP in Scotland get their way it will be a Republic like us. Also the new Welsh Assembly make them a bit more self-ruling like Northern Ireland.

From that well-known bastion of truth, it seems that there were one or two kings until it all went pear-shaped.:(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Wales

Mike 1972

fuelinjection wrote: »

Scotland have a lot more indepence and if the SNP in Scotland get their way it will be a Republic like us.

Scotland does have more in the way of autonomy than Wales or NI. The Scottish parliament can vary income tax by up to 3% IIRC

The situation with regard to the SNP and independence is not as clear cut as it might appear. Seemingly a lot of SNP voters are happy enough with devolution and wouldnt actually vote for a complete break from the UK. SNP's role in Scottish politics is more as an "Official opposition" to new Labour. The Tories are considered a dirty word in all but a handful of Scottish constituencies (the leafier ones probably).

jd007

fuelinjection wrote: »

There is a Price of Wales, but not of Scotland. I don't know the history behind that is to be honest.

How much?:p

ejmaztec

jd007 wrote: »

How much?:p

Two sheep, a leek and a bag of coal.

fuelinjection

jd007 wrote: »

How much?:p

haha !
sorry had about 20 spelling errors in that one, i am turning into one of those annoying teen texters

fuelinjection

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Scotland does have more in the way of autonomy than Wales or NI. The Scottish parliament can vary income tax by up to 3% IIRC

The situation with regard to the SNP and independence is not as clear cut as it might appear. Seemingly a lot of SNP voters are happy enough with devolution and wouldnt actually vote for a complete break from the UK. SNP's role in Scottish politics is more as an "Official opposition" to new Labour. The Tories are considered a dirty word in all but a handful of Scottish constituencies (the leafier ones probably).

Yeah I remember the Scottish Parliament rejecting some of Tony Blair's changes to education, I can't remember exactly what it was but Blair wasn't happy at all.

And the SNP have the plans for a Scottish Republic in their website, but I am too lazy to read through it now. As far as I know it's about 50/50 in polls in Scotland, they would need a bigger majority to carry it and keep people happy.

irishh_bob

fuelinjection wrote: »

Yeah I remember the Scottish Parliament rejecting some of Tony Blair's changes to education, I can't remember exactly what it was but Blair wasn't happy at all.

And the SNP have the plans for a Scottish Republic in their website, but I am too lazy to read through it now. As far as I know it's about 50/50 in polls in Scotland, they would need a bigger majority to carry it and keep people happy.

support for a break with the union in scotland is grossly exagerated , outside of northern ireland , the most staunch unionist people in the uk live in scotland

fuelinjection

irishh_bob wrote: »

support for a break with the union in scotland is grossly exagerated , outside of northern ireland , the most staunch unionist people in the uk live in scotland

Sorry but thats not true. The Scottish National party are the main party in Scotland now and are about as unionist as Sinn Fein are.

Although there are plenty of unionist people in Scotland, not all are (all the Scottish people I worked with were VERY nationalistic). They have a choice of having closer ties to Europe and being in the Euro instead of Sterling, as well as reducing corporate tax like we did here.

Biggins

Gordon wrote: »

It's a state. of mind.

Its a state - Charles thinks he owns it - he don't mind.

SV

irish-stew wrote: »

its a country, along with contries of england and scotland, all three form the island of great britain

and the Isle of Man.

fuelinjection

SV wrote: »

and the Isle of Man.

and the Channel Islands ... and Gibraltar .... and The Falkland Islands .... not much of an empire now I'm afraid !

karlog

Wales are mammals.

randylonghorn

It's both ... it is a country, now a part of the United Kingdom of great Britain and Northern Ireland, the sovereign state which unites the old kingdoms of England and Scotland, the principality of Wales and the territory of Northern Ireland (let's not go there) ... and, in a historic sense, a principality, an identity which is preserved by naming the first-born son of the British monarch as its prince.

The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are Crown Dependencies, i.e. the head of state is the British Monarch, but they are not technically part of the UK, although obviously closely linked with it.

brummytom wrote: »

One of our Geography teachers taught us that England, Wales and Scotland are all Principalities within the 'country' of Great Britain. Not sure if he was being serious

He's technically wrong, but it's mainly semantics ... the UK is a sovereign state comprising several countries, but it's not a difference we will normally make in casual conversation.

SeaFields

I am very surprised nobody has answer in this fashion yet but I dont give a fcuk! :mad:

jd007

karlog wrote: »

Wales are mammals.

Ah I see what you did there.

Ridley

bungaro79 wrote: »

any sporting occasion and they seem to be all about us against them so why do they stay part of the uk??

The short answer is Normans, legal documents and sex. Probably.

Son Of A Vidic

It's a place where absentee English Landlords spend their summer holiday I thought.

Richard

brummytom wrote: »

One of our Geography teachers taught us that England, Wales and Scotland are all Principalities within the 'country' of Great Britain. Not sure if he was being serious

England and Scotland have never been ruled by Princes, so no. And Great Britain has not been a country since 1801, so not unless you're really old.

Richard

fuelinjection wrote: »

Sorry but thats not true. The Scottish National party are the main party in Scotland now and are about as unionist as Sinn Fein are.

I'd say they're as unionist as the SDLP are. I think only 30% of Scots want full independence - many voted SNP but know that a referendum won't be passed. In addition to this, the SNP is a minority administration.

The Tories used to be a bigger force in Scottish politics, but until the 60s were really the Scottish Unionist Party. Scots were attracted to this because it has its own Scottish (albeit Unionist) identity. Apparently many SUP voters and members switched to the SNP when the former merged with the Conservative Party because of the English-centric nature of what became (and still is officially) the Conservative and Unionist party.