
Actor Michael Sheen has revealed why, eight years after receiving an OBE, he decided to hand it back.
The Welshman, 51, who has played famous names including Tony Blair and Sir David Frost, was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2009 for his services to drama.
But in an interview with newspaper columnist Owen Jones, which was released on Tuesday, Sheen revealed that he returned the honour in 2017.
He explained that he had done so because he did not want to be a âhypocriteâ when airing his views about the monarchy.
The award-winning actor said the decision had been prompted by researching the history of his native Wales and its relationship with the British state for his 2017 Raymond Williams lecture.
He told his interviewer that the âcrash courseâ had made him realise he could not both deliver his lecture and hold on to the honour.
âIn my research to do that lecture, I learnt a lot about Welsh history,â he said.
âAnd by the time Iâd finished writing that lecture on this laptop that Iâm talking to you on right now, I remember sitting there going, âWell I have a choice â I either donât give this lecture and hold on to my OBE or I give this lecture and I have to give my OBE backâ.â
He told Jones he had decided not to announce his decision to hand back his OBE in 2017 as he feared some people would find it insulting.
He said: âI didnât mean any disrespect but I just realised Iâd be a hypocrite if I said the things I was going to say in the lecture about the nature of the relationship between Wales and the British state.â

Sheen, from Port Talbot, said Wales and Englandâs shared history was still a point of contention for many of his compatriots.
He pointed towards the controversy caused by the decision to rename the second Severn crossing the Prince of Wales Bridge in 2018. A petition against the move received more than 30,000 signatures.
âThese things have power,â Sheen said.
âThe idea of the Prince of Wales and that being an Englishman and the history of that.
âWhy Edward made his son the Prince of Wales (was) because it was part of keeping down the Welsh rebellion.
âThese are things that happened so long ago but these things are resonant.â
Charles, the current Prince of Wales, is due to forfeit the title when he ascends the throne.
Sheen suggested it would be a âreally meaningful and powerful gesture for that title to no longer be held in the same way as it has beforeâ.