This article is about the particular significance of the year 2012 to Wales and its people.
Incumbents
First Minister – Carwyn Jones
Secretary of State for Wales – Cheryl Gillan
Archbishop of Wales – Barry Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff
Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Jim Parc Nest
Events
January
1 January – Welsh recipients of New Year Honours include musician Walford Hutchings, rugby player Martyn Williams and politician Alex Carlile. 12 January – Controversial proposals for a new school "banding" system are unveiled by Assembly minister Leighton Andrews. 19 January – 249 staff at the Cardiff HQ of Peacocks are made redundant as the company goes into administration. 27 January – It is revealed that the missing documents which caused the collapse of the Lynette White police corruption trial in November 2011 have been found. 30 January – The inquest into the death of former Wales football manager Gary Speed returns a "narrative verdict".
February
9 February – All Wales Ethnic Minority Association—a Swansea-based charity whose role was to distribute funds to ethnic minority projects across Wales—loses all National Assembly funding after a damning report identified "fundamental failures in the control and governance" within the charity. 29 February – Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd calls for England to pay a financial charge for receiving water from Wales.
March
1 March – As part of Saint David's Day celebrations, the Welsh Assembly announces that the home of poet Hedd Wyn has been secured for the nation by the Snowdonia National Park Authority. 12 March – Roath Lock, the new BBC Wales television production studio in Cardiff Bay, is officially opened. 14 March – St Asaph is named as one of three towns to be awarded city status in the United Kingdom as part of the celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II; letters patent granted 1 June. 15 March – Leanne Wood is announced as the new leader of Plaid Cymru.
April
3 April – Royal Navy and RAF helicopters rescue seven people from a cargo ship that has run aground near Colwyn Bay. 20 April – It is announced that Bryn Terfel's annual music festival will be revived in July 2012, taking place at London's Southbank Centre. 26 April – The Queen starts a two-day visit to Wales as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour. The communities visited over the Welsh section of her tour included Cardiff, Llandaff, Merthyr Tydfil, Aberfan, Ebbw Vale and Crickhowell.
May
3 / 4 May – In local elections the Labour Party take control of 10 of the 21 contested Welsh local authorities, a gain of 8. 4 / 9 May – Urdd Gobaith Cymru holds its annual eisteddfod in Snowdonia (Eryri). 5 May - Wales Coast Path officially launched. 8 May – Backing is given to construct the highest-generating onshore wind farm in Wales, located above the village of Glyncorrwg. 14 May – Peter Hain, former Secretary of State for Wales and Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, resigns from front-line politics. 19 May – Official MonmouthpediA opening. 25 May – The Olympic torch starts its five-day tour of Wales, as part of the torch relay of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Gareth John, Chairman of Disability Sport Wales, becomes the first person to bring the torch onto Welsh soil.
June
2 / 5 June – The homecoming parade of the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards in Cardiff begins celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Many Welsh towns and cities hold street parties to celebrate the Jubilee, though there is a protest from an anti-monarchist group in Cardiff. 9 June – An evacuation exercise gets under way at Aberystwyth after holidaymakers are trapped in a flooded caravan park. Several people are airlifted to safety by the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Royal Air Force Sea King helicopters. 19 June – Betws Primary School in Bridgend is seriously damaged by a fire that breaks out in the computer block during the school day; 219 pupils are safely evacuated. 23 June – Christine James becomes the first woman appointed Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales.