Miss Wales is a national

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Rules

Miss Wales is open to unmarried women from age 16 to age 24, and is organized by Vibe Models. Contestants must not have had children, must be

British citizen British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...

s and must reside in

. Winners are expected to support "Welsh issues, charities, or other good causes ".There is also a corresponding Mister Wales contest for men.

Miss World from Wales

In 1961,

Rosemarie Frankland Rosemarie Franklin (1 February 1943 – 2 December 2000) born in Rhosllanerchrugog a village near Wrexham. She was a Welsh actress, model and beauty queen who won Miss World 1961, having previously finished as first runner-up at Miss Universe ...

finished 1st runner-up at

Miss Universe 1961 Miss Universe 1961, the 10th anniversary of the Miss Universe pageant, was held on 15 July 1961 at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Marlene Schmidt of Germany was crowned the winner by outgoing titleholder Lin ...

, she then became the first Welsh woman to win

Miss United Kingdom Miss United Kingdom is a title held by the highest-ranked contestant from the UK in the Miss World pageant. The winner sometimes competes at Miss International the following year under the ''Britain'' or ''United Kingdom'' banner. From 1958 ...

. In the same year, she became the first British woman to capture the

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss In ...

crown. 1974's Miss Wales, Helen Morgan, achieved exactly the same feat as Rosemarie Frankland, when she finished as 1st runner-up at Miss Universe 1974, before going to win the

and

titles. At Miss World however, she was dethroned only four days after her victory, when it was discovered that she was an unmarried mother (and thus ineligible)."Ex-Miss World in a different era"
Clare Gabriel,

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

, posted 10 September 2004, accessed 23 May 2006. Morgan did not actually break any rules, as the rules only stated that the contestants must not be married and made no mention of motherhood.

Wales at Miss World since 1999

Wales has been taking part in the Miss World pageant directly since 1999, since devolution. The first woman to compete at Miss World as Miss Wales was Clare Daniels, who competed alongside Stephanie Norrie who was Miss Scotland. The Final Miss United Kingdom contest had already taken place earlier in the year, so at

Miss World 1999 Miss World 1999, the 49th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 4 December 1999 at the Olympia Hall in London, United Kingdom. The pageant was hosted by Ulrika Jonsson and model Melanie Sykes. The 1999 pageant attracted 94 delega ...

, there was the unusual situation of a Miss UK competing along with the Miss Scotland and Miss Wales winners. Miss England and Miss Northern Ireland competed at the Miss World contest for the first time in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. Since 1999, the highest placed contestant from the four constituent countries of the UK wins the Miss United Kingdom title. Three Welsh women have won. In 2004, Welsh

Amy Guy Amy Guy (born 21 December 1983) is a Welsh beauty queen, television performer and athlete. She attended Yale College, Wrexham and secondary school at Ysgol Rhiwabon, Wrexham, Wales, and was the Welsh Schools National 100m and 300m Hurdling Cha ...

became the only British woman to be named as one of the 15 semifinalists, after winning the fast track event Sports Competition, becoming the first contestant under the Miss Wales banner to advance to the semifinals. In 2008,

Chloe-Beth Morgan Chloe-Beth Morgan (born 1986) is a Welsh beauty queen who won the Miss Wales 2008Miss Wales 2008
contest ...

won the Miss UK title. Shen then went on to competes as Miss UK at

Miss International 2009 Miss International 2009, the 49th Miss International pageant, was held on November 28, 2009, at the Sichuan International Tennis Center in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The pageant was originally scheduled to be held on November 7, 2009, at The Ven ...

and placed as 2nd runner-up. In 2012, Sophie Moulds achieved the highest placement ever among the four constituent countries when she finished as 1st Runner-up. She also claimed both the Beach Fashion award and the Continental Queen of Europe title.

Titleholders

;Colour key

1999–present

The winner of Miss Wales represents her country at

. On occasion, when the winner does not qualify (due to age) for either contest, a runner-up is sent.

1961–1998

References

External links

The official Miss Wales homepage
{{Miss Supranational countries and territories Welsh awards Beauty pageants in Wales Annual events in Wales

Women in Wales fr:Miss Pays de Galles