In this way it may have been adopted by the family of Edward
III. by right of his wife, Philippa of Hainault.
An early notice of the ostrich feather as a royal badge occurs in a note
in one of the Harleian MSS. to the effect that 'Henrye, son to
the erle of Derby, fyrst duke of Lancaster, gave the red rose crowned,
whose ancestors gave the fox tayle in his proper cooler, and the ostrych
fether, the pen ermine,' the Henry here mentioned being the father of
Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt.
On the tomb of Prince Arthur, son of Henry VII., at Worcester,
the feather is shown both singly and in plume, and it occurs in the
triple plume form within a coronet and a scroll with the words 'ICH
DIEN' upon it, on bindings made by Thomas Berthelet for Prince
Edward, son of Henry VIII., who never was Prince of Wales.
It really seems as if the first 'Prince of Wales' actually to use the
ostrich feather plumes as a personal badge of that dignity was Prince
Henry, and it occurs largely on such books belonging to his library as
he had rebound, and also on books that were specially bound for
presentation to him.
This is the case in one of the most decorative bindings he possessed,
enclosing a collection of tracts originally the property of Henry
VIII., but which somehow or other became the property of
Magdalen College, Cambridge, the governing body of which had it bound in
embroidered velvet and presented to Prince Henry.
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