Looking Back: When Prince Charles Marked 50 Years as Prince of Wales
Back in 2019, Wales marked a significant royal anniversary just a stone’s throw from the Black Boy Inn – and with Charles now King, it felt worth revisiting the story of how Caernarfon Castle came to host one of the monarchy’s most memorable ceremonies.
The recent ceremony marking the 50 year Investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales, took place a mere stone’s throw from the Black Boy Inn.
Charles has long been praised for his dedication, love and overwhelming support of the Welsh people during his decades as Prince of Wales. He was invested with the title by the Queen on 1 July 1969, cutting a cake in celebration of the occasion and enjoying a cup of tea from a china cup bearing the emblem of the Welsh red dragon.
In 1958, Charles was only nine years old when he was made the Prince of Wales, and then he was formally invested with the title by his mother, in a ceremony of great pomp at Caernarfon Castle, which was televised and watched by 19 million people in the UK, and millions more worldwide. Fifty years on from this significant event, the Second Severn Crossing was renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge to honour Charles’s 70th birthday.
Charles, the longest-serving Prince of Wales, enjoyed a week in Wales, in which he carried out more than a dozen engagements throughout the country. Some engagements included encountering horses in Ty’n-y-Coed Forest, where he met horse loggers in his role as patron of the British Horse Loggers. This organisation promotes using horses as sustainable “base machines” in the extraction of timber. Another engagement included a visit to a Prince’s Trust centre in Nantgarw, which involved meeting workers at the charity’s helpline and some young people who have benefited from its advice.
Jeweller Mari Thomas was helped by the trust 21 years ago when she was setting up her business – she presented Charles with a set of cufflinks and a tie pin as an anniversary present. The prince was thrilled with the gifts, but made sure to ask how Ms Thomas’s business was going – he then proceeded to do a small double fist pump in celebration after Ms Thomas informed him she was now employing ten people.
Prince Charles set up the Prince’s Trust in 1976, using his Navy severance pay, in order to help young people overcome challenging circumstances, getting into employment or even launching their own businesses. As of 2019, the trust had helped nearly one million young people.
Where Things Stand Today
Charles is now King, having acceded to the throne in 2022, and Prince William now holds the title of Prince of Wales. But the story of that 1969 investiture, and Charles’s decades-long connection to Wales, remains part of Caernarfon’s history – and Caernarfon Castle, the setting for it all, still stands within sight of the Black Boy Inn. If you’re staying with us, it’s well worth a walk over to see the same walls the ceremony once filled.
Editor’s note: this article was originally published in 2019 and updated in 2026 to reflect Charles’s current title as King.