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