Royal Sorrow: Prince Charles' Welsh Tutor Dies At 89
Prince Charles mourns as he pays tribute to his Welsh tutor, Dr. Edward "Tedi" Millward, who has died at the age of 89.
Amid the ongoing crisis, Prince Charles received another heartbreaking news about the passing of his former tutor, who gave him lessons at Aberystwyth University prior to his investiture as Prince of Wales back in 1969.
In a statement released after the news surfaced, the Prince of Wales said: "I am deeply saddened to hear of Dr. Millward's death. I have very fond memories of my time in Aberystwyth with Dr. Millward over fifty-one years ago."
The heir to the throne then admitted that though he was never the best student, Dr. Millward taught him a lot of things and pushed him to learn so much about the Welsh language and everything about the history of Wales.
"After all these years, I am forever grateful to him for helping foster my deep and abiding love for Wales, her people, and her culture. I send my most heartfelt sympathy to his family," Prince Charles ended the tribute.
Netflix historical drama "The Crown" once featured the lessons between the royal prince and the inspirational figure for the Welsh nationalism movement. He appeared in the episode titled "Tywysog Cymru" (which means Prince of Wales in Welsh) and was portrayed by actor Mark Lewis Jones.
His death was confirmed by Dr. Millward's daughter, Lilo Millward, on Facebook on Monday evening.
"In 1969 Dad was asked to teach Prince Charles to speak Welsh and he accepted this role in the hope that it would be an opportunity to enlighten an important member of the English establishment about the plight of the language and the unique and valuable culture that the Welsh language is a part of," the London-based singer recalled.
She added that the late Welsh giant always described the heir to the throne as someone "sensitive, intelligent, and an open-minded young man." Throughout the years they spent in tutoring, she believed that the two developed mutual respect -- which was also featured on the Netflix series.
Dr. Millward Was Anti-Monarchy
In one of his last interviews though, Dr. Millward recalled how Prince Charles worked so hard to win the Welsh nationalists by learning Welsh. The royal prince used the language for a speech at Caernarfon Castle.
"The police had me in their 'black book', so I was bit surprised when I was asked to teach him Welsh. Special Branch interviewed me very sternly before we started," the 89-year-old tutor said during his interview with The Sun in 2019.
According to him, he was not really proud of becoming Prince Charles' Welsh tutor as it was forced upon him. And when they first met, he treated him just like how he treated any other students.
In addition, he opened up about how Prince Charles knew that he was against him becoming the Prince of Wales. But eventually, Dr. Millward gave in but still refused to bow or call him "Your Royal Highness".
