Today, the Canadian Government of Justin Trudeau unveiled a new heraldic Canadian Crown replacing the traditional St. Edward’s Crown used on Canada’s coat of arms, police & military badges. The design replaces what the government termed “religious symbols” (crosses & fleur-de-lis) with maple leaves & a snowflake.
The Canadian Heraldic Authority was apparently consulted in this process. Reactions so far have been mixed but mostly disapproving.
It was very interesting to read in the Times that Lord Lyon King-of-Arms, the senior heraldic officer in Scotland will not only take part in King Charles’ coronation on May 6 but will do so wearing the crown that had been commissioned and obtained by the Heraldry Society of Scotland back in the early 2000s. The arches on the crown, which are removable, will be removed for the coronation so it won’t too closely resemble the crown with which the King shall be crowned.
The expensive item and the trouble that went into commissioning and fabricating it was one of the reasons that, despite the Peers not being allowed to wear their coronets at the upcoming, more modernized, ceremony Lord Lyon–and indeed the other three English Kings-of-Arms–will be wearing their crowns. The coronation of the Sovereign is one of the only occasions on which these crowns are traditionally worn.
On February 21, HM King Charles III granted new arms to Her Majesty Queen Camilla. This is the first grant of arms made by the King and they replace the arms previously granted buy the late Queen Elizabeth on July 14, 2005. The arms granted are:
“Within the Garter Our Royal Arms impaling the Arms of Shand surmounted by Our Crown.”
The Supporters are a Lion Guardant Or Crowned proper (dexter) and to the sinister a Boar Azure armed and unguled Or langued Gules and gorged with a Coronet composed of Crosses formy and Fleurs-de-lys attached thereto a Chain reflexed over the back and ending in a Ring all Or (sinister).
This month marks the 80th anniversary of the office of Norroy and Ulster King of Arms. The office of Ulster King of Arms was created by King Edward VI on February 2, 1552, and for its first 36 years, appears to have been regarded as attached to the College of Arms; the two Ulsters in this period, Bartholomew Butler and Nicholas Narboon, had both been English Heralds before their appointment as Ulster. After the resignation of Narboon in 1588, subsequent Ulsters acted independently from the English College. On January 30, 1908, King Edward VII appointed Captain Nevile Rodwell Wilkinson King of Arms and Principal Herald of all that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Ireland, with the title of Ulster. Wilkinson exercised this office, based in Dublin Castle, through a period of great political turmoil in Ireland until his death on December 22, 1940. The political circumstances in Ireland at this time led to the decision to return the office of Ulster to the College of Arms in London, with responsibility for Northern Ireland alone, and united with the office of Norroy.
On January 29, 1931, King George V had appointed Algar Henry Stafford Howard, M.C., as King of Arms and Principal Herald of the North Part of England, with the title of Norroy. Howard still held this office on April 1, 1943, when King George VI additionally appointed him King of Arms and Principal Herald of that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland called Northern Ireland, without prejudice to his existing appointment as Norroy and with the title of Ulster to be borne after that of Norroy. Howard held these joint offices until his promotion to Garter the next year, and on June 2, 1944, King George VI appointed Sir Gerald Woods Wollaston, K.C.B, K.C.V.O., King of Arms and Principal Herald of the North Part of England and of Northern Ireland, with the title of Norroy and Ulster, which has remained the form of the office to this day. The present Norroy and Ulster, Robert John Baptist Noel, was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II on April 6, 2021. He proclaimed the accession of His Majesty The King at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland on September 10, 2022, the first time Ulster had performed such a duty in Ireland since the proclamation of King George V in Dublin on May 9, 1910.
Between 1943 and 1980, holders of the office of Norroy and Ulster used the arms of office of one of the two offices, or both arms impaled on one shield. In 1980, Queen Elizabeth II approved new arms for the joint office. These are: Quarterly Argent and Or a Cross Gules on a Chief per pale Azure and Gules a Lion passant guardant crowned between a Fleur-de-lis and a Harp Or. Norroy and Ulster King of Arms is also ex officio King of Arms, Knight Attendant, Registrar, and Keeper of the Records of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, offices which are purely nominal since the death of the last Knight of the order.
Text taken from the College of Arms Newsletter, No. 71 April, 2023
On October 28 the Canadian Heraldic Authority published the coat of arms that has been devised for the current Governor-General of Canada, Mary J. Simon, CC, CMM, COM, OQ, CD, FRCGS. Simon has been serving as Canada’s 30th Governor-General and representative of the King as Head of State since July 26, 2021. She is the first indigenous person to hold the office, being of Inuk origin.
For more information about the devisal of the coat of arms and the symbolism contained therein you can visit the website of the Governor-General’s Office HERE.
Buckingham Palace released the royal cypher to be used by King Charles III. It employs the “Tudor” crown rather than the stylized version of the St. Edward’s Crown favored by his late mother, Elizabeth II. Her four predecessors used this Tudor style crown in their cyphers as well as on their coats of arms. This has led to the erroneous belief that there is a “Queen’s crown” and a “King’s crown” used heraldically in British royal heraldry. That is not the case. It is simply a matter of each sovereign’s personal preference.
Today, HM Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at Balmoral. Her eldest son immediately succeeded her becoming King Charles III. His son inherits his titles as heir to the throne and will now be Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge (among several other titles). King Charles will now relinquish the coat of arms he has borne since 1958 and the royal arms which had been used by his late mother since 1952, immediately becomes his coat of arms.
May she Rest in Peace. God Save the King!
It’s not all that easy to find heraldic references to Advent. Nevertheless, one which I came across many years ago and of which I always think at this time of the year is the very fine coat of arms of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. This is the cathedral church for the Episcopalian Diocese. They had a devisal of arms produced for them by HM College of Arms in London. It is, overall, a most pleasing design and I particularly like how an Advent wreath was incorporated.
The Church enters into the final week Advent this week and I wanted to be sure to point out this excellently done coat of arms before the season had left us again.
Happy Advent (and a Merry Christmas) to you all.
US Army General Colin Luther Powell, who served as U.S. Secretary of State from 2001-2005, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989-1993 and as National Security Advisor from 1987-1989 died on October 18, 2021 at age 84 from blood cancer and Parkinson’s Disease both of which had been complicated by Covid-19.
Some people knew, but many didn’t, that Powell had British ancestry and that his father, Luther Powell, had been granted a coat of arms by Her Majesty through Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland. In addition, Lord Lyon granted a unique crest to General Powell. The achievement is:
When Lord Lyon Robin Blair travelled to Washington, DC to deliver the Letters Patent of the grant to General Powell in 2004 he attended a cocktail party the night before in suburban Virginia given by American members of the Heraldry Society of Scotland. I was at that party. Lord Lyon was kind enough to bring the Letters Patent with him to the party for all of us heraldic enthusiasts to see. So, we were all privileged to see the grant even before Colin Powell did!
May he rest in peace.
The version above was rendered by Andrew Stewart Jamieson.
Since 1894 there have been nine Presidents of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Five of them have also been armigerous in their own right. The first IOC President, Demetrius Vikelas, was not and neither were the fourth, Sigfrid Edström, the fifth, Avery Brundage, or the ninth and current IOC President, Thomas Bach.
On July 2 David Vines White (59) was appointed Garter Principal King of Arms at HM College of Arms in London. This is the most senior of the three Kings of Arms. He had previously been Somerset Herald and before that Rouge Croix Pursuivant. He succeeds Sir Thomas Woodcock who has served as Garter since 2010. Congratulations to the new Garter King of Arms!
A sincere wish for health and happiness to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II on her 95th Birthday.
1926 — April 21 — 2021
In light of the recent announcement that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (aka Prince Harry & Meghan) will be stepping back from duties as senior royals and, consequently no longer styling themselves as “royal highness” not a few people have contacted me to ask out of curiosity if this in any way will have an impact on the coats of arms they both use.
The simple answer is, “No”.
As the grandson of the sovereign Prince Harry employs a coat of arms that indicates he was born a grandson of the sovereign. British royal heraldry is different than many other countries in that the sovereigns children and grandchildren generally bear the royal arms differenced by a variety of labels of either three or five points and the points are charged with marks of difference. That’s really rather boring if you asked me but that’s what they do and they haven’t asked me!
So, when he turned 18 Harry was granted his own arms depicting the royal arms difference by a label of five points the first, third and fifth of which are charged with a red escallop shell. The shell is a charge borrowed from the coat of arms of his late mother, Diana (neé Spencer).
His supporters were also charged with the label for difference and the arms are surmounted by a special coronet used by the children of the heir to the throne. In addition, the royal crest is also charged with the label for difference.
Upon marrying his wife Harry was created Duke of Sussex. Nothing in his coat of arms was modified to reflect this title. Consequently, there is nothing to change in his coat of arms to reflect his new status of stepping down from a senior position in the royal family. He is still a grandson of the sovereign and son of the heir to the throne; he is still the Duke of Sussex; he is still actually an “HRH” but will choose not to style himself as such.
In fact, even after his grandmother passes away and he is the son of the sovereign and, indeed, even after his father passes away and he is the brother of the sovereign the crown used on his arms will remain unchanged as the crown for the child of the heir is identical to the crown used by children of the sovereign and siblings of the sovereign.
So…no changes.
Two hundred and forty three years ago a group of men in Philadelphia declared some “self-evident” truths. And we are still here. God Bless America!
On July 1, 1969 Prince Charles was formally invested as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. He had been given these titles in 1958 and had, from the time of his mother’s accession to the throne been the Duke of Cornwall, the title traditionally held by the heir apparent to the British throne. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the event.
In 2017 Prince Charles surpassed the record set by his illustrious ancestor, King Edward VII, by becoming the longest-serving Prince of Wales in history.
His arms (above) appear very much like those of his mother except that his are differenced by a white label (repeated on both supporters and the badge for Wales as well); in place of the compartment there is a device intertwining his motto and his badges as well as a small shield with the arms of Cornwall; there is an inescutcheon for Wales; and the crowns on the helm, the two small shields and the lion supporter all have a single arch as befits a Princely crown rather than a royal one which has two arches.
God Bless the Prince of Wales!
While it is not entirely unknown it is somewhat rare to find artistic depictions (i.e. “emblazonments”) of the personal coat of arms of a herald in some way marshaled with the heraldic devices or coat of arms associated with the heraldic office he holds.
It’s very common to see the arms of one of the English Kings of Arms, for example, or that of the Lord Lyon King of Arms. In addition, most heralds and pursuivants (Kings-of-Arms, Heralds and Pursuivants are collectively referred to as “heralds”, using the name of the so called middle rank) employ a heraldic badge to indicate their office. But, it is the somewhat rare occasion when such coats of arms or badges are displayed along with the individual heralds’ personal armorial bearings.
I happened to come across a very handsome one the other day causing me to begin searching the internet to find images of the personal arms of Garter Principal King of Arms, the officer of arms who is the most senior of the heralds in the English College of Arms, ranking immediately below the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk marshaled to those of the arms of office for Garter. I have, so far, only been able to find a few. I’ll begin with the newly appointed current Garter King of Arms and work backwards. NOTE: all of the personal coat of arms of the men who served as Garter King of Arms are known. However, here I am referring to depictions where their personal arms are impaled with those of the office of Garter.
David Vines White, 2021 –
Thomas Woodcock, 2010 – 2021
Sir Peter Gwynn-Jones, 1995 – 2010
Sir Conrad Swan, 1992-1995
Sir Colin Cole, 1978 – 1992
Sir Anthony Wagner, 1961 – 1978
The Hon. Sir George Bellew, 1950 – 1961
Sir Algar Howard, 1944 – 1950
(N.B.: according to the blazon of the arms there should be a crescent sable on the bend for difference.)
[Sir Gerald Wollaston, 1930 – 1944]
Sir Henry Farnham Burke, 1919 – 1930
Sir Alfred Scott-Gatty, 1904 – 1918
Sir Albert Woods, 1869 – 1904
Sir Charles Young, 1842 – 1869
Sir William Woods, 1838 – 1842
[Sir Ralph Bigland, 1831 – 1838]
Sir George Nayler, 1822 – 1831
[Sir Isaac Heard, 1784 – 1822]
[Ralph Bigland, 1780 – 1784]
[Thomas Browne, 1744 – 1780]
[Sir Charles Townley, 1773 – 1774]
Stephen Martin Leake, 1754 – 1773
[John Anstis the younger, 1727 – 1754]
[John Anstis the elder, 1714 – 1744]
Sir Henry St. George the younger, 1703 – 1715
Sir Thomas St. George, 1686 – 1703
[Sir William Dugdale, 1677 – 1686]
[Sir Edward Bysshe, 1646 – 1660]
[Sir Edward Walker, 1645 – 1677]
Sir Henry St. George the elder, April – November, 1644
Thus far back was I able to discover depictions of the personal arms of the various Garter Kings of Arms impaled with the arms of office. Of course the office is much older than 1644. The first garter King of Arms, William Bruges, was appointed in 1417! I have only listed the bracketed names and dates of the Kings of Arms for whom I could not find examples of their impaled arms to fill in gaps between those that I did find. But, I’ll keep looking!
UPDATE: I added the newly-appointed present Garter principal King of Arms.
Recently a priest from the UK shared with me the recent (November, 2018) grant of arms he received from HM College of Arms. Of course there was a very fine example of Letters Patent illustrating the grant as well as laying out the blazon of arms. This is not an inexpensive or a quickly done process. Being a subject of HM, the Queen it was altogether correct, however, for Fr. Adam Gaunt to petition for and receive a grant of arms from the legitimate heraldic authority within the country in which he lives. It may take some time; it may cost a rather tidy sum but in the end it is well worth it.
The coat of arms itself (below) is illustrated ensigned by the appropriate ecclesiastical hat for a priest of the Church of England. That is to say with two black tassels suspended from cords composed of black and white skeins twisted together.
The Letters Patent also depict an heraldic crest on a helm with a horse and mantling which is most often seen employed in the arms of a layman not in holy orders. (below)
In addition, there are illustrations included of a heraldic badge, as well as an heraldic standard which is composed of the arms, crest and badge. (below)
Father Gaunt was kind enough to explain that, “The arms are an adaptation of those attributed by “ancient and uniform tradition” to my ancestor Gilbert de Gaunt, Earl of Lincoln.”
“He, (Gilbert) was of Flemish origin and related to the Counts of Flanders, who used the same heraldic colors and metals.”
Here in the United States we do not have a heraldic authority. That is not to say that Americans cannot employ coats of arms. On the contrary, Americans are armigerous but we may legally and correctly, which are two different things, assume a coat of arms. That is to say we are able simply to design and adopt a coat of arms for our own use. In England there is a heraldic authority which is not a government office but a private corporation which operates as a part of the royal household. While it is technically illegal for a person to assume a coat of arms in England there isn’t a very great likelihood that there will be any legal repercussions to doing so as there might be in, say, Scotland or South Africa. However, it is quite incorrect simply to assume arms in England.
Instead, it is both right and, I would hazard a guess, quite delightful to do as Fr. Gaunt has done and receive a grant of arms from HM College of Arms. Well done Fr. Gaunt!
A couple of years ago I wrote about clergy who make use of more than one version of their coats of arms depending on offices held or circumstances of use. Once again I’ve come across a fine example.
The current Lord Lyon King of Arms, the principal heraldic authority for Her Majesty in Scotland is not only a heraldic expert and a jurist but he is also an ordained clergyman in the Scottish Episcopal Church (a.k.a. the Anglican Church north of the border). The Rev. Canon Dr. Joseph John Morrow, CBE, KStJ, QC, DL, LLD possesses a very nice coat of arms of his own.
This coat of arms can be displayed all alone or, as Lord Lyon sometimes has chosen to do, with the helm, mantling and crest of the typical armorial achievement.
However, sometimes this coat of arms is also displayed with the external ornaments proper to the Office of Lord Lyon King of Arms.
Additionally, the Office of Lord Lyon has its own armorial bearings which may be used by the incumbent of the office of Lord Lyon in a “greater” form:
as well as a “lesser” or smaller version.
Finally, the current Lord Lyon may choose to impale his personal arms with those of Lord Lyon and display them with the external ornaments of the office, including the red lion supporters:
or he may impale his personal arms with the arms of office and display them with some of the external ornaments of Lord Lyon as well as his own crest and supporters.
Same man; same arms; many versions.
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
EXARANDORUM 