King Henry VII is the only Welshman to have become the King of England, so the erection of a statue of him in the grounds of Pembroke Castle in Wales might be viewed as an act of nationalism. Most Welsh people, though, regard Henry with some ambivalence. In a recent poll to identify the greatest Welsh heroes, for example, he garnered only 142 votes, ranking him 53rd in the list (Aneurin Bevan, the social-justice campaigner and Labour Party politician, came first with 2426 votes). It may be that casting Henry as a Welsh hero is problematic because, although he was from Wales, he was a king of England, the country which had been oppressing the Welsh people for hundreds of years. Even though he added the red dragon—a symbol of Wales—to the royal coat of arms, Henry did nothing to improve the lot of the Welsh people. In fact, he initiated laws banning their language from being used in courts of law and preventing its speakers from becoming public officials. From this perspective, it is less easy to see why Henry VII's statue was erected in Wales at all. The answer may lie in the fact that the idea for the commemorative monument was the result of a campaign carried out by local residents, and not conceived by any Welsh institution such as the tourist board or a Welsh heritage organization. The county encompassing Pembroke Castle is inhabited predominantly by English-speakers.