Dafydd Iwan: Fake plot to kill Prince Charles, says singer

For many years Dafydd Iwan was a Plaid Cymru councillor in Gwynedd and campaigned for Welsh independence

One of Wales' best known folk singers claims a "pathetic" attempt was made to lure him into a fake plot to kill the King when he was the Prince of Wales.

Dafydd Iwan said it was the work of an "agent provocateur" who looked like "a character from a B movie" before the 1969 investiture of Prince Charles.

Mr Iwan, who later became Plaid Cymru president, makes the claim in his new autobiography.

His satirical song Carlo (Charles) was high in the Welsh charts at the time.

He is now better known to many as the writer and singer of Yma o Hyd, which translates as We're Still Here and has been adopted as an official Welsh football anthem.

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At the time of the prince's investiture in Caernarfon Castle in Gwynedd, Mr Iwan had become increasingly prominent for his political activities campaigning for the Welsh language as a member of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg.

The following year he was sent to prison after refusing to pay fines for defacing English-only road signs.

Mr Iwan, now 80, writes in his book, Dafydd Iwan: Still Singing Yma o Hyd, that the UK government at the time would use "unnecessarily heavy-handed methods to carry out their surveillance" when there was controversy surround the investiture.

Dafydd Iwan is best known to many these days for performing Yma o Hyd at Wales football internationals

"I experienced at first hand a rather pathetic attempt by an agent provocateur to put me in a great deal of trouble," he said.

He said when he arrived at a concert in Llanrwst the place was "crawling with police".

"Two of them approached me to say they'd received intelligence that someone was out to kill me, so they were there in numbers to give me protection.

"I was ushered into the marquee where the concert was to take place, and shown into a small room in a corner of the tent, they told me they would be outside if I needed them.

"As I sat there, trying to come to terms with what I'd just heard, and getting the guitar ready for the stage, a man came in, looking like a character from a B movie, and said in a hushed voice that we'd met previously at a Plaid do in Holyhead.

"I'd never seen him before, and never saw him again.

"He said that he had very little time, so he wanted to come straight to the point. 'We have a plan to assassinate the prince, and you are the very man to help us'.

"I did not let him finish his sentence but told him to get out as quickly as his feet could take him and added that I didn't ever want to see him again."

Dafydd Iwan: Still Singing Yma o Hyd is published by Y Lolfa.