Prince William has been urged to learn Welsh, but was reassured that "nobody is expecting miracles".
The 40-year-old royal has been given the title Prince of Wales following his father King Charles' ascension to the throne and the country's First Minister, Mark Drakeford, believes citizens would appreciate it if he had an ability to use the language "at the margins", but stressed people weren't anticipating a "suddenly-acquired fluency" from William or his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Asked whether William should learn Welsh, the politician acknowledged the language can be tough to learn as an adult, but added: “I’m quite sure that the incoming Prince of Wales will want to recognise the importance of the Welsh language and the part it plays in shaping the identity of contemporary Wales.
“I don’t think anybody will expect somebody to have a suddenly acquired fluency in the Welsh language, but an interest in the language, being willing to use the language at the margins of what people do, all of that will be understood and appreciated. Nobody will be expecting miracles.”
Mark also praised William for telling him he was keen to take his new responsibilities on slowly to ensure his knowledge of Wales and the issues it faces were "fully established".
He said: "I have had one conversation with the new Prince of Wales. We didn’t directly talk about the investiture.
“But he did say to me, that he wanted to take on his new responsibilities slowly, that he wanted to give time for his own knowledge of Wales, and the things that matter in the Wales of today, to be fully established.
“I thought that was very sensible as an approach to taking on those new responsibilities.”
Charles and his wife Queen Consort Camilla visited Wales on Friday (16.09.22) as part of their tour of the nations of the UK following the death of Queen Elizabeth last week, and the First Minister defended the rights of those who wanted to stage anti-monarchy protests in Cardiff to concide with the trip.
He told the BBC's 'Today' programme: “People have a legitimate right to protest.
“I don't think that this is the week in which that debate needs to surface, but people have that right and I think it will be exercised with restraint. It will be a footnote to the dominant feelings of the day.
“I have every confidence in the South Wales Police, who have dealt with this sort of event many times and very successfully, that they’ll deal proportionately with protest, making sure that those rights are respected, but that those rights don’t interfere with what most people will have come to Cardiff today to exercise.”
