Ann Romney Visits Her Ancestral Roots
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Scott Olson/Getty Images(LLANGYNWYD, Wales) — Ann Romney will find herself in the middle of an old Welsh love story during her weekend getaway to her ancestral home. After leaving the London Olympics, she is visiting the 850-year-old Old House Inn in Llangynwyd, Wales.
According to Richard Stephens-David, landlord of the Old House Inn, she should be arriving with a group of about 30 to 40 people, though the names of the guests have not been made public.
After breakfast Ann heads to a nearby church called Cynwyd. There, Stephens-David said she will speak with a local historian to look up her Welsh family heritage. “It is believed that some of her ancestors are buried in the graveyard there” Stephens-David said. “While she is there, she will have a male voice choir from a neighboring village sing to her.”
“The old Cynwyd Church that Ann will be visiting is attached to an old Welsh love story,” Stephens-David told ABC News. “The love story is about a wealthy landowner’s daughter who fell in love with a laborer.”
The landlord tells the tale of the young girl’s family disapproving of her love affair with a laborer and ultimately marrying her off to local solicitor.
“Both the daughter and the laborer died of a broken heart,” Stephens-David said. “They are both buried at that church. Wil Hopcyn, the laborer, is buried outside because he was a pauper, and the daughter, Ann Thomas, is buried inside because she came from wealth.”
Later in the afternoon, after her church visit, Romney is expected to return to the inn for lunch. “We will have a locally produced menu consisting of Welsh lamb and black beef for Ann and her guests,” said the innkeeper.
“But the choir boys will not be joining us for lunch.”
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio