William delivers first St David’s Day message in Welsh

The Prince of Wales has been learning the Welsh language with the help of the Duolingo language app, and he delivered his first message in Welsh to mark St David’s Day at the weekend.

A screen grab taken from Prince William's 2025 Welsh St David's Day message delivered from Kensington Palace. Picture: X

When Prince William accepted the title Prince of Wales as heir to the throne in 2022, he admitted he needed to “branch out a bit” with his limited Welsh.

True to his word, William, 42, has been learning the language with the help of the Duolingo language app, and delivered his first message in Welsh to mark St David’s Day at the weekend.

Wearing a daffodil buttonhole and sounding confident in his delivery, William’s video message was broadcast on Kensington Palace’s social media platforms and featured Welsh landscapes and communities.

William is often heard greeting members of the Welsh community with the words “Bore da” (Good morning), but this is the first time he has spoken more than a few phrases of the language.

A royal source said William “felt it was important” to improve his Welsh. While he has not been taking formal lessons as his father did in his youth, he and the Princess of Wales, 43, are said to have been learning some conversational Welsh, as well as helping their children, Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, learn some too.

In the message, William said: “Helo. Heddiw, ar Ddydd Gŵyl Dewi, rydym yn dod at ein gilydd i ddathlu Cymru – ei hanes, ei diwylliant a’i phobl anhygoel (Hello. Today, on St David’s Day, we come together to celebrate Wales – its history, its culture and its incredible people).

“O’i golygfeydd anhygoel i’w hiaith, mae Cymru yn parhau i ysbrydoli. Heddiw, rydym yn dathlu popeth sy’n hudol am Gymru (From its incredible landscapes to its language, Wales continues to inspire. Today, we celebrate everything that is magical about Wales).

“I holl bobl Cymru ac i bawb ledled y byd, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus (To all the people of Wales and to everybody around the world, Happy St David’s Day).”

A friend of the King said that Charles would “be deeply touched that his son is making this effort with the role of Prince of Wales that was so important to His Majesty for so many years”.

Charles spent nine weeks at Aberystwyth University learning the Welsh language and Welsh history before his investiture as Prince of Wales in a televised pageant at Caernarfon Castle in 1969.

William chose not to have a ceremony when his father passed the title to him in September 2022, after acceding to the throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Royal sources said William and Kate were instead keen to focus on “deepening the trust and respect of the people of Wales over time”.

The couple lived on Anglesey, in north Wales, for three years from 2010 to 2013 while William worked there as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot, and the prince has spoken of his “deep affection” for the country.

Duolingo has more than 110 million monthly active users, making it the most popular educational app in the world. They learn languages from Spanish (50.1 million learners) and Japanese (25m) to Dutch (3.4m) and Norwegian (1.8m). Many practise every day to protect their “streak” – some users boast of having streaks of 500 days or more. You lose your streak if you do not practise regularly.

According to the last Annual Population Survey, 851,700 people in Wales can speak Welsh, 27.7 per cent of the population of just over three million, the lowest percentage recorded in eight years. The language is taught in all schools in Wales up to the age of 16.

Before St David’s Day, William and Kate carried out engagements on Wednesday in Pontypridd, south Wales, visiting a community garden, making Welsh cakes in the market and meeting those affected by flooding last year caused by Storm Bert and Storm Darragh.

THE SUNDAY TIMES