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The 87th was highly honoured for their success, being granted the honour of carrying the eagle as a motif on their Regimental Colours and through being granted the royal title 87th (Prince of Wales' Own) Irish Regiment. The eagle was taken back to England and put on display in the Royal Hospital, Chelsea . It was around 10 inches tall set on a plinth marked with the numeral 8. It was made of silver, but gilded, which led many to think it was solid gold. In fact the only golden part of the eagle was a laurel wreath which hung around its neck. This wreath was an honour conferred upon the 8th Regiment by Napoleon himself, and was not common to all eagles at the time. The eagle's right claw was raised. Beneath it should have been a thunderbolt but on the 87th trophy it was missing. It is believed to have been dislodged during it's capture. Several years later the eagle was stolen from the Royal Hospital. It was broken from its staff and smuggled away to an unknown fate. Many rumours abounded, the strongest being that it had been repatriated by a Frenchman. More likely is that it was melted down and sold. The original staff is still held in the Royal Irish Fusiliers museum in Armagh , Northern Ireland . When the Duke Of Wellington died in 1852 he had asked that all his battle trophies be carried at his funeral. As the eagle of the 8th was not available it was decided to make a replica. The mould was made by Garrard's and was designed from a sketch of the original drawn by an officer of the 87th at the time of Barrosa. All contemporary eagles of the Royal Irish Fusiliers , Royal Irish Rangers and Royal Irish Regiment originate from this mould. In the dramatisation of Bernard Cornwell's " Sharpe " series of books "Sharpe's Eagle" is based on the real experiences of the 87th Irish regiment. |
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