THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will wear a handcrafted symbol of the triumph of Wales over the English at his enthronement at Canterbury Cathedral next Thursday.

Dr Williams commissioned Rhiannon Evans, of Tregaron, near Aberystwyth, to make the gold and silver celtic morse, or clasp, for his gold silk cope. It features the red and white dragons of the Merlin Prophecy, a sixth-century prophecy that climaxes with the triumph of the ancient race of Britons over the Anglo-Saxon hordes.

The £3,000 clasp is part of a £9,500 set of enthronement vestments paid for by an anonymous donor after the National Assembly of Wales refused to finance them. Once Dr Williams’ term as Archbishop is over, they will be returned to Wales for public display.

The dragons on the morse, which is 13cm across, are made from red and white gold. They are rampant on either side of a silver cross of Canterbury overlaid with a celtic design. The boss at the centre of the cross is crafted from Welsh gold.

Dr Williams was involved from the start in discussions about how to incorporate Merlin’s Prophecy into the design. The prophecy is one of the romance stories at the end of the Welsh Mabinogion, an oral tradition collected over 1,000 years and written down in about the 13th century.

Merlin, a fatherless child with miraculous powers who went on to become magician and adviser to King Arthur, made his prophecy to save himself from being sacrificed in Snowdonia by King Vortigern.

Ifan Evans, a director of his mother Rhiannon Evans’s company, said: “Merlin prophesied that eventually the red dragon will arise and conquer the white Saxon invader.

“The morse is emblematic of the fact that a Welsh man who is an inheritor of the ancient British tradition is moving to the See of Canterbury. It is about the ancient Britons rising up against the Saxon oppressors.”

He said that Dr Williams had taken a close interest in the design.

“I would not have thought he was trying to present himself as a son of the red dragon returning to strike fear into the Saxons. But he knew of the symbolism and he is surely aware of the red dragon and its role in Merlin’s Prophecy.”

The Archbishop’s cope, stole and mitre have also been crafted in Wales, by Gilbert and Wendy KilBride at their studio in Llanover, near Abergavenny. The robes, of dark gold silk woven by Gilbert KilBride, are simple in design with celtic crosses incorporated into the weave and the braids.

Riitta Sinkonnen Davies, a traditional weaver from Freystrop near Haverfordwest, has woven the rochet, a white vestment worn beneath the cope.

The enthronement will have further celtic elements, with a soloist accompanied by a harpist singing improvised anthems in Welsh. The choir of St Woolos cathedral, in Monmouth, Dr Williams’ former diocese, will also sing.

James McMillan, the classical composer, has been commissioned to write a special piece of music.

The service will have a strong international flavour, with all but two of the 38 Anglican Primates from the worldwide Anglican Communion able to attend.

There will be African drummers and a big contingent of Muslim scholars from al-Azhar University in Egypt. The Prime Minister will be there, as will the Prince of Wales, but without Camilla Parker Bowles.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, will represent the Roman Catholic community in Britain and there will also be a cardinal from the Vatican as well as representatives of the Orthodox, free and black churches. The Rev Joel Edwards, of the Evangelical Alliance, will say a prayer.

Also attending, according to yesterday’s Church of England Newspaper, will be Greg Dyke, the Director-General of the BBC, and Sir Lucien Freud, the painter.

Richard Kirker, the director of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, is understood to be “disappointed” that he has not been invited. But Louie Crew, the leading gay activist in the Anglican church in America, will attend with his partner, Ernest, to whom he has been “married”.

At his pre-enthronement press conference yesterday, Dr Williams said that the ceremony was about taking root as a pastor and teacher in the Canterbury diocese.

“There is a real sense in which next week is the beginning of the real job: joining with local communities, to learn from them and share with them, and seeking not primarily a public voice to comment on public affairs, but a way of deepening and enriching people’s faith.

“Getting the balance right is always going to be hard for someone in a position as exposed as the Archbishop’s, but he will not be doing his job if he doesn’t do this bit of it — talking to the people of the parishes about God and Jesus Christ, and about their lives in the light of God.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Milk: do we need a dairy godmother?
• DIY: the women doing it for themselves
• First double portrait of Princes unveiled