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         Exhibit 31.1
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                                  CERTIFICATION

I, Joseph P. Campbell, Chief Executive Officer, certify that:

         1.      I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Royal
                 Bancshares of Pennsylvania;

         2.      Based on my knowledge, the annual report does not contain any
                 untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material
                 fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
                 circumstances under which such statements were made, not
                 misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

         3.      Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
                 financial information included in the report, fairly present in
                 all material respects the financial condition, results of
                 operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the
                 periods presented in this report;

         4.      The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible
                 for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
                 procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
                 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as
                 defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and15(d)-15(f) for the
                 registrant and have:
                 (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                     such disclosure controls to be designed under our
                     supervision, to ensure that material information relating
                     to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries,
                     is made known to us by others within those entities,
                     particularly during the period in which this report is
                     being prepared:
                 (b) [Intentionally omitted];
                 (c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                     controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                     conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
                     controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered
                     by this report based on such evaluation; and
                 (d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
                     internal control over financial reporting that occurred
                     during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the
                     registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual
                     report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably
                     likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
                     control over financial reporting.

         5.      The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
                 based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
                 financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit
                 committee of registrant's board of directors (or persons
                 performing the equivalent functions):
                 (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                     design or operation of internal control over financial
                     reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect
                     the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and
                     report financial information; and
                 (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                     management or other employees who have a significant role
                     in the registrant's internal control over financial
                     reporting.


         Dated: March 12, 2004
         /s/ Joseph P. Campbell
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         Chief Executive Officer