The Prince of Wales's feathers is the heraldic badge of the Heir Apparent to the Commonwealth realms thrones. It consists of three white feathers emerging from a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bears the motto Ich dien (a contraction of the German for "I serve", ich diene). As well as being used in royal heraldry, the badge is sometimes used to symbolise Wales, particularly in Welsh rugby union and rugby league; however, its use as such is controversial and rejected by some Welsh nationalists as a symbol of the British monarchy rather than of Wales.
Read more about Prince Of Wales's Feathers: Origins of The Badge, Popular Accounts of Origins
Famous quotes containing the words prince of wales, prince of, prince, wales and/or feathers:
“When the Prince of Wales [later King George IV] and the Duke of York went to visit their brother Prince William [later William IV] at Plymouth, and all three being very loose in their manners, and coarse in their language, Prince William said to his ship’s crew, “now I hope you see that I am not the greatest blackguard of my family.””
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Satan, what ails you? Where’s the famous tongue?
Thou onetime Prince of Conversationists?”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The prince exults whomever he selects as his consort, but the queen, rather than elevating the subject of her choice, humiliates him as a man. By all that is right, a man is not intended to be the husband of his wife, but a woman is to be her husband’s wife.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“I just come and talk to the plants, really—very important to talk to them, they respond I find.”
—Charles, Prince Of Wales (b. 1948)
“You never saw this room before a show,
Full of lank, shivery, half-drowned birds
In separate coops, having their plumage done.
The smell of the wet feathers in the heat!”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)