The City of Cardiff was officially named as the capital city of Wales. Cardiff was named as a city in 1905 and 50 years later in 1955 achieved its capital city status.

Cardiff was proclaimed capital city just in time to host the 1958 Commonwealth Games. Branded as “The Empire Games”, at the time it was the largest sporting event to be held in Wales. In 2012 Cardiff will be hosting the very first event of the Olympic Games on 25th July.

The population of Cardiff is around 320,000. The city is home to the Millennium Stadium and its very own castle (to name just a few of its landmarks). The stylish Cardiff Bay also houses the Wales Millennium Centre.

Wales has a number of other cities, Swansea, Bangor and Newport as well as the smallest City in the United Kingdom, St Davids.

As part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012, a total of 26 towns across the UK will compete for the right to become a city. Both St Asaph and Wrexham in North Wales are in the running to become one of Britain’s newest cities.