While not officially recognised as the anthem of Wales, The Land of My Fathers is largely considered one of the most emotive of national anthems.

Strongly connected with rugby but now used before most Welsh national sporting fixtures, the song was written by a father and his son in 1856.

Residents of Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Evan James wrote the words while his son James James composed the music.

The title of the song translates from Welsh into Old Land of My Fathers but is usually referred to as simply Land of My Fathers.

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Wales national anthem lyrics

This version is the translation by W.S. Gwynn Williams.

The land of my fathers is dear to me,
Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free;
Its warring defenders so gallant and brave,
For freedom their life's blood they gave.

Home, home, true I am to home,
While seas secure the land so pure,
O may the old language endure.

Old land of the mountains, the Eden of bards,
Each gorge and each valley a loveliness guards;
Through love of my country, charmed voices will be
Its streams, and its rivers, to me.

Though foemen have trampled my land 'neath their feet,
The language of Cambria still knows no retreat;
The muse is not vanquished by traitor's fell hand,
Nor silenced the harp of my land.