University lecturer characterised in Netflix series The Crown after he taught Prince Charles Welsh for his 1969 Investiture dies aged 89
- Dr Tedi Millward was a lecturer at Aberystwyth University and a campaigner
- The academic died aged 89, but it is not clear if it was coronavirus-related
- He gave the 20-year-old prince Welsh lessons in the hit Netflix series
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
The university lecturer who gave Prince Charles Welsh lessons has died aged 89.
Dr Tedi Millward taught Charles how to say a few words before his investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969.
The retired Aberystwyth University lecturer was a proud Welsh nationalist, an academic and campaigner, his daughter said in a tribute. His death is not thought to be related to coronavirus.
Dr Millward’s lessons were featured on an episode of The Crown entitled Tywysog Cymru, which means Prince of Wales in Welsh, with Dr Millward played by Mark Lewis Jones.
Dr Tedi Millward (pictured) taught Prince Charles Welsh in 1969 before he was invested. He has died aged 89
In one of his last interviews Dr Milward told how he warmed to the 20-year-old prince during their hour-long sessions at Aberystwyth University.
Dr Millward said: ‘I was not in favour of him becoming the Prince of Wales but I didn’t argue the point with him.
‘I got on quite well with him, he was good to get to know. I found him intelligent and quite charming, we stayed in touch for a long time afterwards.’
Dr Millward said many of the scenes in the TV show never happened including a storyline that he invited the young 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 is pictured in his teaching days. He worked at Aberystwyth University and was a passionate Welsh nationalist
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.
Dr Millward was given a stern vetting by Special Branch police before he was appointed Charles’s Welsh teacher.
He was a leading Welsh nationalist and had come close to being arrested during a Welsh language protest in 1963, six years before the Prince’s controversial investiture at Caernarfon Castle.
The university lecturer said: ‘The police had me in their black book so I was bit surprised when I was asked to teach him Welsh. The police interviewed me very sternly.
‘When I met him I tried to be neutral, I just treated him the same as any other student.
Dr Millward’s lessons were featured on one episode of The Crown entitled Tywysog Cymru, which means Prince of Wales in Welsh, with the lecturer played by Mark Lewis Jones (pictured)
Mark Lewis Jones is pictured playing Dr Tedi Millward in The Crown on Netflix
‘I’m not particularly proud of being his Welsh teacher, it was forced upon me.’
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.
Dr Millward’s daughter Llio Millward said in a statement: ‘I think firstly of my father as a nationalist.
‘His passion towards the Welsh language and culture drove every aspect of him, from his personal life, as an academic and as a campaigner.
‘He was very unassuming and I had to nag him to write his autobiography.
‘But you could see he was, as the Welsh Language Society’s former leader Jamie Bevan said in the foreword, one of the quiet giants of our language and our culture.’
In one of his last interviews Dr Milward told how he warmed to the 20-year-old (pictured in a video message posted online by the Royal Family last week) prince during their hour-long sessions at Aberystwyth University