As they process out of the pavilion, the winning bard and the Arch-Druid are preceded by a man carrying a giant sword. This is the weapon with which they have just ceremonially threatened to cut off the head of the newly-crowned bard, thwarted only by the enormous roar of Heddwch! (‘Peace!’) that luckily always rises from the throats of the crowd.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, as a famous English bard put it.