Michael Sheen

Sheen was invited to deliver the annual Raymond Williams lecture in Merthyr Tydfil — one of the most symbolically significant venues in Welsh radical history. To prepare, he undertook extensive research into Welsh history, a process he later described as having a "profound impact" on his thinking. The speech went viral years later, introducing Sheen to a new generation as a passionate advocate for Welsh self-governance.

The lecture marked Sheen's transformation from a celebrated actor who happened to be Welsh into an active campaigner for Welsh self-governance. His research into Welsh history — the Laws in Wales Acts, the Tryweryn flooding, the systematic suppression of Welsh identity — led him to conclude that he could no longer hold an OBE "in good conscience." The speech's most powerful passage compared Wales' position within the UK to a dragon on a flag: inspiring as a symbol but existing only "in our minds and in our hearts, never in the real world." He subsequently returned his OBE to Buckingham Palace, telling The Guardian that "by the time I'd finished writing that lecture, I remember sitting there going: well, I have a choice — I either don't give this lecture and hold on to my OBE, or I give this lecture and I have to give my OBE back." The speech continues to circulate on social media and has been cited by many younger independence supporters as the moment they first engaged with Welsh constitutional questions.

Interviewed on Owen Jones's YouTube channel during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheen was asked about the surge in support for Welsh independence (which had reached record levels during 2020-21). The interview generated enormous media attention and became a defining moment in the cultural mainstreaming of the independence argument.

Sheen described the arguments against Welsh independence as resembling an "abusive relationship," arguing that when opponents say Wales is too small, too poor, or too dependent to survive alone, they are using the language of coercive control. He said these arguments, "if you imagined it in terms of a relationship between people, you'd say that is an abusive relationship — no, you can't leave because you wouldn't be able to survive on your own, you aren't strong enough or clever enough." He stopped short of explicitly calling for independence, instead arguing that "regardless of whether Wales should be independent or not, what those arguments put into relief is how unhealthy that relationship is for Wales." He also suggested that "quite a lot of Welsh Labour politicians, if you were to put party aside and just think about country, would be for Welsh independence but can't say that." The comments provoked a fierce response from the British establishment press, with the then-Welsh Secretary Simon Hart criticising Sheen — a response that analysts noted demonstrated exactly the dismissive Westminster attitude that Sheen was describing. The "abusive relationship" framing has since become one of the most widely cited arguments in pro-independence discourse.

Sheen lent his public support to the Siarter Cartrefi campaign for Crown Estate devolution, joining Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts and then-Labour MP Beth Winter at an open meeting to launch the campaign. All 22 Welsh local authorities subsequently voted in favour of devolution.

Sheen's endorsement of the Crown Estate devolution campaign demonstrated his evolution from cultural commentator to active political campaigner. By lending his name and platform to a specific policy demand — rather than making general statements about Welsh identity — he gave the campaign mainstream visibility that no politician could match. A Bangor University analysis noted that "actor Michael Sheen is one celebrity campaigning to secure the devolution of the crown estate to Wales," illustrating how his involvement brought academic and media attention to what might otherwise have been a technical policy debate. First Minister Eluned Morgan herself later adopted language echoing the campaign's historical framing, saying "we saw them take our coal, we saw them take our water — we will not let them take our wind." Sheen's involvement in both the cultural dimension (Welsh National Theatre, the Nye production about Aneurin Bevan) and the political dimension (Crown Estate, independence discourse) makes him arguably the most influential non-politician in the Welsh devolution landscape.