A BRECONSHIRE author is at the centre of claims that militant Welsh nationalists could have assassinated Prince Charles on or before his investiture as Prince of Wales.

This year marks 50 years since the grand ceremony at Caernarfon Castle when Charles officially became Prince of Wales.

But the title, and the event, was controversial and Llangammarch Wells-based historian Dr Wyn Thomas says the ceremony in July 1969 was a response by the UK political establishment to growing nationalism in Wales.

His new book John Jenkins: The Reluctant Revolutionary? is based on 15 years of interviews he conducted with the British Army officer turned Welsh militant leader.

Jenkins was stationed in Caernarfon at the time of the investiture and claims his group Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (the ‘Movement to Defend Wales’ – known as MAC) could have carried out an assassination on the young prince.

Ahead of the investiture two members blew themselves up in a bungled attempt to plant a bomb near a railway line at Abergele and, worse, five days after the investiture a timer bomb left on the route of the royal procession exploded, causing serious injury to a 10-year-old boy who had to have his leg amputated.

But Dr Thomas, who questioned Jenkins over claims the group could have killed Charles, said the rebel leader discounted the idea as he didn’t believe it would help the cause of Welsh independence.

The author, whose Phd resulted in his first book examining Welsh militant groups, says he has no doubts killing the young royal would have backfired: "I can safely say it would never have been supported and a physical attack on a 20-year-old can never be justified.

"It would have been bold and radical but it would have been massively counter productive and it would have cost the MAC any sympathy it had."

Before studying for his history degree, as a mature student at Trinity Saint David University in Carmarthen, and graduating in 2001 Dr Thomas had worked in mental health care.

Dr Thomas then started his Phd, which he completed in 2011, while still a part-time student but finished it after taking redundancy. His research resulted in his first book Hands Off Wales which also looked at Welsh militancy in the 1960s

He has since worked on a number of television and radio programmes about Welsh history, a subject he says has always captivated him.

He was born in Llandrindod, in 1967, but his policeman father, Richard Thomas, moved the family with his job, to Amanford and Ystradgynlais, before returning to Llandrindod in the late 1970s where he finished his schooling.

While his research has focused on a radical period of modern Welsh history Dr Thomas believes the disruption of Brexit could lead to a further change in the country’s relationship with the UK state. He believes Wales taking its own place in a federal UK could become a reality.

As well as digging through the past Dr Thomas also has an aspiring music career as a singer songwriter and has released a CD of self-penned folk and rock songs Chalybeate Spring.

Dr Thomas has his own website which can be found at https://drwynthomas.comRead the story behind the plot to kill Prince Charles in this week’s Brecon & Radnor Express - on sale now