Coat of arms of Wales

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The Coat of Arms of the Principality of Wales is a coat of arms used by the Prince of Wales. Unlike the Royal Coat of Arms of England and Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland in their respective countries, it has not very often been used in Wales as a national symbol in the past. However, it is now increasingly seen, without the crown.

It may be blazoned quarterly Or and gules, four lions countercharged langued and armed azure. It is based on the arms borne by Llewelyn the Great, the famous 13th-century Welsh prince.

[edit] History

Before the English conquest, Wales was ruled by a number of regional Kings and Princes, whose dominions shifted and sometimes merged following the vagaries of war (mainly with the English) and marriage and inheritance. All these Kings and Princes were ascribed personal coats of arms, often retrospectively if they lived before the dawn of heraldry, and these were borne by their descendants in Wales. The two principal Welsh kingdoms were those of north Wales (Gwynedd) and south Wales (Deheubarth). Of these, the most successful, and the last, finally, to fall, was that of Gwynedd, and the arms now borne by the English Princes of Wales as an inescutcheon are the historic arms of the dynasty of Gwynedd as borne by the last native Princes of Wales, including Llewelyn the Last and, subsequently, Owain Glyndwr.

The arms associated with the principal dynasty of south Wales (Deheubarth) are, on the other hand, a gold lion rampant on a red field within an indented (sometimes engrailed) gold border. Although never included in the English Royal Arms, they continue to be borne by families descended from the dynasty of Deheubarth: most notably by the Talbot family (Earl of Shrewsbury, etc) which married an heiress of the dynasty in the 14th century.

When in 1911 the future King Edward VIII was made Prince of Wales, a warrant exemplifying his arms was issued. Along with the usual royal arms differenced by a "label" of three points, his main arms included an "inescutcheon surtout" crowned with the heir apparent's crown and containing the arms of Llewelyn of Gwynedd to represent the principality of Wales.

It is unclear whether, before this date, they were thought of as the "arms of Wales" or simply as the "arms of Llewelyn". But they had certainly not previously been used by heirs to the English or UK thrones; indeed, in his 1909 book A Complete Guide to Heraldry, Arthur Fox-Davies had written: "It is much to be regretted that the arms of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales do not include...any allusion to his dignities of Prince of Wales or Earl of Chester." The only allusion, before this innovation, to Wales in the Royal arms had been the inclusion, among many other badges, of on a mount vert a dragon rouge — the royal badge on which the present Flag of Wales is based.

In the 1960s, the Prince of Wales decided to use a banner of the Principality's arms, defaced with an inescutcheon of his heraldic crown, when performing royal duties in Wales.