Prince Charles' pays tribute to Welsh language tutor Dr Tedi Millward, who has died
Tributes have been paid to Tedi Millward, Prince Charles' Welsh tutor and an inspirational figure for the Welsh nationalism movement, who has died aged 89.
Dr Millward, who taught at Aberystwyth University, tutored Charles in Welsh ahead of his investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969.
The pair's lessons featured in an episode of Netflix series The Crown titled Tywysog Cymru, Welsh for Prince of Wales.
The TV series showed Prince Charles giving Dr Millward a book of English tongue-twisters to get his own back over his struggles with learning Welsh.
He said: "I'm not particularly proud of being his Welsh teacher, it was forced upon me.'
But Prince Charles stayed in touch with Dr Millward and would turn to him for advice if he had to make a speech in Welsh while on a royal visit to Wales.
Born in Cardiff in 1930, Dr Millward co-founded the Welsh Language Society, which is credited with helping establish Welsh as an official legal language in 1967.
He was also a prominent member of Plaid Cymru, running unsuccessfully for the seat of Cardiganshire in a Westminster election.
Dr Millward's death is not thought to be related to coronavirus.
His daughter, a London-based singer and actress Llio Millward said she thought of her father as a nationalist first.
Dr Millward said many of the scenes in the TV show never happened including a storyline that he invited the young prince to his home for tea.
He said: 'That wouldn't have happened because my wife Sylvia was not in favour of him.'
In The Crown, the teenage Charles is shown a photograph of the Welsh village where Tedi and Sylvia met along with a claim it was flooded to become a reservoir supplying water to England.
Dr Millward said: "That didn't happen either, I don't know where they got that from.
"They didn't consult me before making the film although I did meet the actor who pays me and he was very nice.'
Dr Millward was also hailed as a driven campaigner for Welsh culture, identity and independence, with Plaid Cymru paying tribute at the passing of a "Welsh giant", and independence group YesCymru citing him as an inspiration.
In one of his final interviews late last year, Dr Millward said he had been opposed to Charles becoming Prince of Wales but that the pair developed a warm relationship.
"I wasn't in favour of him -becoming Prince of Wales. And he knew it," Dr Millward told The Sun.
"(But) in the end, I got on quite well with him and he was good to get to know.
"I found him intelligent and quite charming. We became quite close."
Following the announcement of his death, Prince Charles said, “I have very fond memories of my time in Aberystwyth with Dr Millward over 51 years ago. While I am afraid I might not have been the best student, I learned an immense amount from him about the Welsh language and about the history of Wales.”
Actor Mark Lewis Jones, who played Dr Millward in The Crown, said he had made an "immense" contribution to Wales.
"I had the absolute privilege to play this Welsh giant. His contribution to Wales and its language is immense. A great loss," Lewis Jones tweeted.
Josh O'Connor, who played Prince Charles, said he was a "great man who made a great contribution to a wonderful country."
The Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University expressed her deepest sympathies to the family of Dr Millward, saying "his legacy will be an abiding one which will continue to inform all those who follow in his footsteps."