Disgraced TV presenter Huw Edwards has been expelled from the Gorsedd of the Bards – one of many highest accolades in Welsh public life.
He was stripped of the honour in a unanimous vote at an Eisteddfod Courtroom assembly on Thursday.
The board stated it activated a related part of its structure to take away him.
A spokesman stated his membership of the Eisteddfod was additionally terminated.
The choice, which is unprecedented, had been referred to the pageant’s governing physique.
In a press release earlier on Thursday, the Gorsedd recorder, or secretary, Christine James stated: “In such issues, the Gorsedd is topic to the Eisteddfod Courtroom.
“The court docket has a good and balanced course of [for dealing with such matters] which has already began.”
The Nationwide Eisteddfod is likely one of the main occasions within the Welsh calendar.
The week-long annual Welsh language cultural pageant contains competitions in music, dance and literature, and attracts round 160,000 guests yearly.
The Gorsedd inducts new members annually who’ve contributed to Welsh life.
No member of the Gorsedd has been expelled earlier than as a consequence of being dishonoured.
The Eisteddfod Courtroom is the physique that governs the Eisteddfod and a separate organisation from the Gorsedd.
Final week, Edwards admitted having 41 indecent photographs of kids, which had been despatched to him by one other man on WhatsApp, Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom heard.
They included seven class A photographs, probably the most critical classification – two of which confirmed a toddler aged between about seven and 9.
Police later revealed the person who despatched the pictures to Edwards was a convicted paedophile.
Till final yr, Edwards was one of many predominant presenters on BBC One’s Information at Ten and sometimes fronted protection of main nationwide occasions.
What’s the Eisteddfod and the Gorsedd of the Bards?
The Nationwide Eisteddfod is a big Welsh language cultural pageant that takes place yearly, alternating between north and south Wales.
It’s the largest cultural festival of its kind in Europe, and a key occasion within the Welsh calendar.
It hosts a combination of each day expertise competitions and night concert events, gigs, performs and exhibitions.
Competitions in the primary pavilion range from dance to recitation, singing to brass bands.
The Gorsedd of the Bards is accountable for all of the pageantry of the occasion.
Gorsedd members, often known as druids, embrace poets, writers, musicians, artists and others.
These members have made a distinguished contribution to the Welsh nation, the language, and its tradition.
There have been calls for organisations to immediately reduce ties with the disgraced former BBC information presenter.
Cardiff College stated after the responsible plea it “is actively reviewing procedures in relation to the honorary fellowship award and his place as an honorary professor”.
Bangor College additionally stated it was reviewing an honorary fellowship it had granted him.
The Realized Society of Wales, the nation’s nationwide scholarly academy, additionally stated it was reviewing Edwards’s fellowship, to which he was elected in Might 2023, within the wake of his responsible plea.
The Royal Welsh Faculty of Music and Drama and Swansea College have stated it was not in a position to remark.