When Wales win, the opening weekend of a Six Nations rugby championship becomes a highpoint in the national calendar; an outpouring of patriotic emotion. When Wales lose, the game itself can become a bonfire on which the country’s other woes are heaped.

The three feathers symbol has been stitched into red jerseys pulled over proud Welsh chests for around 140 years, and so for many it has become a badge of pride, ranking alongside the dragon, the leek and the daffodil as an unimpeachable symbol of national identity.

Dan Biggar, sporting the WRU's three feathers symbol, motivates the Wales team ahead of their Six Nations clash with Ireland. Photo: Huw Evans Picture Agency

For others, it is a symbol of subjugation and shame that falls into even sharper relief when Wales are not winning. 

While a 2019 survey by UnHerd Britain revealed 48% of Welsh people support the continued reign of the English monarchy (with 25% against), the frequency with which the three feathers debate recurs shows that there is increased volatility on the issue.

Last year broadcaster Eddie Butler made headlines when he gave the inaugural Gwyn Alf Williams Memorial Lecture for pro-independence campaign group Yes Cymru in Merthyr Tydfil.

Eddie Butler addresses a crowd of more than 5000 at a Welsh independence March in Merthyr Tydfil in 2019. Photo: Llywelyn2000 CC BY-SA 4.0

In relation to Welsh rugby international days, Butler said: ‘You bring out your Welsh defiance and put it on display briefly, and you take it down again… there is something hollow about it.’ 

The former international, who won 16 caps for his country, went on to say: ‘Rugby, in a way, is a false symbol of what Wales is all about.’

And it is precisely because of the way the Welsh men’s rugby team has itself long been regarded as a symbol of the nation that controversy over the feathers abounds. 

For many nationalists and republicans, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) have adopted an inappropriate badge for a team that is itself an icon of Wales not only because of its association with the Prince of Wales, but also its use by many regiments of the British military.

The WRU’s close relationship with the royal family – the Duke of Cambridge is its patron – has led to an increasingly political dimension to the age-old sporting divide between rugby and football in Wales, particularly in recent years during which the Football Association of Wales has been deemed to have cultivated an inclusive patriotism based on campaigns and symbols that unify rather than divide, notably the dragon and the bilingual slogan ‘TogetherStronger’ – 'Gyda’n Gilydd Yn Gryfach’.

The Football Association of Wales's emblem features Y Ddraig Goch - The Red Dragon. Photo: Huw Evans Picture Agency

In an interesting article about the only time a leek was used to represent Wales on a rugby shirt, in 1899, Holly Parsons, a former volunteer at the World Rugby Museum, writes: ‘It is thought that the WRU picked the Prince of Wales Feathers over the leek as their symbol in the nineteenth century as a demonstration of loyalty to Britain and her empire.’

Stories surrounding the origin of the feathers symbol are highly contested, but what is incontrovertible is the fact the Prince of Wales has been a title ceremonially granted to heirs to the English throne since 1301.

The first to adopt the feathers was Edward, known as ‘the Black Prince’, eldest son and heir of Edward III, who lived from 1330 to 1376, dying before his father and therefore never acceding to the throne. 

One story says Edward plucked the ostrich feathers from the slain John I of Bohemia at the Battle of Crecy, and adopted the motto of his vanquished foe to further emphasise a heroic victory. 

This popular version, which does at least explain the use of ‘Ich Dien’, German for ‘I Serve’ – a phrase dropped from the logo by the WRU in favour of its own branding in the 1990s in order to copyright the design – is almost certainly a myth.

The Black Prince's "shield for peace": Sable, three ostrich feathers argent. Source: Sodacan CC BY-SA 3.0

More likely is an alternative theory that posits the crest as a homage to Edward’s mother’s family. Philippa of Hainault was descended from the counts of Ostrevent, and some historians argue it is only a small sidestep via a pun from Ostrovent to ostrich.

But those who oppose the use of the feathers on the grounds that ‘Ich Dien’ suggests the servitude of Wales to the English crown might be surprised to learn of another theory about its provenance – a corruption of the Cymraeg ‘eich dyn’ meaning ‘your man’. 

One theory says this was the phrase used to introduce Edward to Welsh archers who had been crucial in the victory at Crecy, a method of binding together the fortunes of Wales and England against a common enemy: France.

Those longbowmen would at the time have been wearing another national symbol, one that predates the feathers – not to mention St David’s Day daffodils – by centuries. 

The leek was once worn into battle as a means of identification. Now giant inflatable leeks are taken to the rugby. Photo: Huw Evans Picture Agency

The leek, made famous as a symbol of Wales in Shakespeare’s Henry V by the character Fluellen (a likely corruption of Llewellyn) dates at least to Cadwaladr, a seventh century king of Gwynedd, who is known to have ordered his men into battle wearing leeks for identification.

By contrast the daffodil, often preferred to the leek because of its more attractive look and odour, is a nineteenth century invention, perhaps developed as an alternative owing to one of its Welsh names. ‘Cenhinen Bedr’ means ‘Peter’s Leek’.

Daffodil-headed Welsh rugby fans. Photo: Huw Evans Picture Agency

Other symbols of the Welsh nation have very varied lifespans. The national flag, featuring y ddraig goch against a white and green background, was only made official in 1959 – but its origins lie in Arthurian legend.

The wizard Merlin is famously said to have seen a vision of a white dragon (representing the Saxons) defeated by a red dragon (representing the native Britons, or proto-Welsh). Its green and white livery belongs to the House of Tudor, which began as a noble dynasty in the north-west of Wales and went on to dominate England and Wales in the early modern period during which the two nations were thrust together.

A similar fusion of ‘native’ Welsh imagery and that of the English crown is evident on the official Royal Badge of Wales, approved as recently as 2008. Based on the thirteenth century arms of Llywelyn the Great, the badge appears on the covers of Acts of the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament. 

The Royal Badge of Wales was approved in 2008. Source: Sodacan CC BY-SA 3.0

Only two first ministers, Carwyn Jones and Mark Drakeford, have held the formal role ‘Keeper of the Welsh Seal’, which has allowed them to bring into force ‘letters patent’ signed by the monarch, giving royal assent to bills passed by the Senedd.

The seal features the royal badge alongside depictions of a dragon and a monarch very much based on the current Queen, and was developed with the Royal Mint Advisory Committee on the Design of Coins, Medals, Seals and Decorations, with the advice of the College of Arms, a royal corporation with jurisdiction over heraldry in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Government of Wales Act 2006 designated the First Minister of Wales as Keeper of the Welsh Seal. Carwyn Jones was its first keeper. Source: Huw Evans Picture Agency

That such a body – founded by royal charter in 1484 by King of England and heraldry enthusiast Richard III – still exists, and wields such strong influence over the national symbols of Wales, is surely worthy of public attention and debate. Especially when one considers the motto at the heart of the Royal Badge of Wales. 

‘Pleidiol Wyf i’m Gwlad’ is familiar as the second line of the chorus to Wales’ national anthem – a pledge of allegiance to country that is co-opted in this instance to also include the queen.

The fact that the banner sits beneath the English crown – and is surrounded by roses, thistles and shamrocks as well as leeks – is sure to ruffle the feathers of those for whom the days of both monarchy and union are numbered.

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