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The badge has no connection with the native Princes of Wales.

The Prince of Wales's feathers is the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales. It consists of three white ostrich feathers emerging from a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bears the motto Ich dien

Its use is generally traced back to Edward, the Black Prince (1330–1376), eldest son and heir apparent of Edward III of England. Edward bore (as an alternative to his differenced royal arms) a shield of Sable, three ostrich feathers argent, described as his "shield for peace", this probably means it was the shield he used for jousting.

According to a longstanding legend, the Black Prince obtained the badge from the blind King John of Bohemia, against whom he fought at the Battle of Crécy in 1346 (Welsh archers (long bowmen) were used in this battle. Before the fighting began the Welsh archers would show their two fingers - their two string / arrow fingers - to the enemy to taunt them of the torrent of pain/death they were about to inflict upon them. It is thought that this may be where the showing of two fingers to someone as a form of offence originated). After the battle, the prince is said to have gone to the body of the dead king, and taken his helmet with its ostrich feather crest, afterwards incorporating the feathers into his arms, and adopting King John's motto, "Ich dien", as his own (Ich Dien being German meaning ‘I Serve’).

The current English royal family, of course, is of German descent - changing their surname to 'Windsor' at the outset of the 1st World War from its original, and true, Bavarian surname of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha being a Duchy consisting of territories within Bavaria).

Historically, the title of ‘Prince of Wales’ has been bestowed upon the male heir to the English throne thus his emblem, the Prince of Wales feathers, has mistakenly become associated with Wales.

The feathers are simply the heraldic badge of an English prince, who happens to be given the title of Prince of Wales because he is next in line to the English throne.

The three feathers are NOT Welsh.

There has not been a Welsh Prince of Wales since circa 1404.

Native Princes of Gwynedd / Wales

Monarch

Birth

Reign

Rhodri Mawr

circa 820-878

Hywel Dda

circa 880 - 950

Grufydd ap Llywelyn

circa 1007-1063

Grufydd ap Cynan

circa 1055 - 1137

Owain Gwynedd

circa 1080

1137-1170

Llywelyn Fawr  (the Great) - Llywelyn ap Iorwerth

1173

1199-1240

Dafydd ap Llywelyn

1212   

1240-1246

Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf  (the Last)  - Llywelyn ap Gruffydd

circa 1223

1246-1282

Owain Glyndwr

circa 1349

1400 - 1404

 

 
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