An outstanding carved ship's figurehead made for a royal yacht owned by Prince Albert Edward of Great Britain, later King Edward VII, whom as the eldest son of Queen Victoria would have borne the title Prince of Wales during the time this figure was made.
The figure bears the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales- three white ostrich feathers emerging from a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bears the motto Ich Dien, German for "I serve".
This figure came from the Schooner ALINE, owned by Prince Albert Edward between 1882 and 1895. ALINE had an illustrious career as a racing yacht and was owned by six members of the Royal Yacht Squadron, of whom Albert Edward was the fifth. The year the Prince acquired ALINE was also the year he was made Commodore of the RYS. Albert Edward would continue in that role until he ascended to the throne in 1901, at which time he was made Admiral, the traditional title conferred upon the ruling monarch.
