Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 11th Baronet
Sir David Watkin Williams-Wynn, 11th Baronet DL of Wynnstay in the County of Denbigh, and of Gray's Inn in the county of Middlesex, is a member of the surviving Welsh nobility and is the closest known living heir of the Princely House of Aberffraw, the former ruling family of Gwynedd and the Principality of Wales, who were deposed in the 1282 Edwardian Conquest of Wales.
His direct ancestors, the Williams family, were an important parliamentary and landowning family from Denbighshire, north Wales, who in the 17th Century married into the famous Wynn family of Gwydir, the direct patrilineal descendants of Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd 1137–1170, and the only surviving branch of that dynasty. On the death of Sir John Wynn in 1719, his direct heiress Jane Thelwall inherited the Wynnstay estate and the claim to the Aberffraw legacy, and her husband Watkins Williams adopted the "Wynn" family name in honour of his wife's princely heritage.
Sir David continues to live within the bounds of lower Gwynedd, in Cefn Meiriadog, St. Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales and takes an active part in local and country life, being appointed High Sheriff of Clwyd for 1990. In particular he was President of the Denbigh & Flint Agricultural Show in 1992. In 2008 he was in the news because it was widely reported that his daughter Alexandra - a sculptor and student at the Royal Academy of Arts - had modelled nude for the famous artist Lucian Freud. Eventually he will be succeeded by his son Charles Edward Watkin Williams-Wynn,. In the continued discussion of potential Welsh independence his name is occasionally brought forward as a theoretical candidate in Welsh monarchy scenarios.
