Caernarfon Castle stands on the Menai Strait in northwest Wales, begun in 1283 on the orders of King Edward I of England as part of his campaign to complete the conquest of Wales, replacing an earlier Norman motte-and-bailey fortress on the same site. Its polygonal towers and bands of different colored stone were deliberately modeled on the Theodosian land walls of Constantinople, a design choice meant to link the new English stronghold visually to imperial Roman authority. The castle was also built as a seat of government and royal residence rather than a purely military work, and it has twice hosted the investiture of the Prince of Wales, for the future Edward VIII in 1911 and for Charles, the future King Charles III, in 1969. Caernarfon Castle forms part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.
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