Upon the helm, the imperial crown proper thereon a lion statant guardant Or langued Gules armed Argent, imperially crowned Proper; mantled Or doubled Ermine
(Scottish version)
Upon the Royal helm the crown of Scotland proper, thereon a lion sejant affronté Gules armed and langued Azure, imperially crowned proper holding in his dexter paw a sword and in his sinister a sceptre, both proper
Quarterly, I and IV Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or langued and armed Azure. II Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules. III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent.
(Scottish version)
Quarterly, I and IV Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules. II Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or langued and armed Azure. III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent.
On the dexter a lion rampant guardant Or langued and armed Gules, imperially crowned Proper. On the sinister a Unicorn rampant Argent armed crined and unguled Or, and gorged with a Coronet composed of crosses patee and fleurs-de-lis, a chain affixed thereto passing through the forelegs and reflexed over the back Or
(Scottish version)
Dexter a unicorn Argent imperially crowned proper, armed, crined and unguled Or, gorged with a coronet Or composed of crosses patée and fleurs de lis a chain affixed thereto passing between the forelegs and reflexed over the back also Or holding the standard of Saint Andrew, sinister a lion rampant gardant Or imperially crowned proper holding the standard of Saint George
At the centre of the arms is a quartered shield, depicting the three passant guardant lions of England in the first and fourth quarters, the rampant lion and double tressure flory-counterflory of Scotland in the second quarter, and a harp for Ireland in the third quarter.[4][1] Surrounding the shield is the Order of the Garter, the United Kingdom's most senior order of knighthood.[1] The supporters are a crowned English lion on the dexter (heraldic right), and a chained Scottish unicorn on the sinister (heraldic left).[5] Above the shield is a gold helmet, which has mantling of gold and ermine attached to it. On top of this is the crest, a crown with a crowned lion standing on it. Below the shield is a grassy mound, a type of compartment, on which are thistles, Tudor roses and shamrocks, representing Scotland, England and Ireland respectively.[1] In front of this is the mottoDieu et mon droit, a French phrase meaning 'God and my right'.[1]
During the reign of Elizabeth II, the crowns depicted in this version of the Royal Arms were close representations of St Edward's Crown. Following Charles III's decision to use the Tudor Crown in his royal cypher, the College of Arms envisaged that the crown on the Royal Arms would also change.[6] This would be similar to the design used from the beginning of Edward VII's reign in 1901 to the end of George VI's reign in 1952.[citation needed] However, as of September 2024[update], the St Edward's Crown version remained in use.[7][8] On 10 October 2024, a new design for the Royal Arms was unveiled.[9][10]
In Scotland
The Royal Arms in Scotland use the same basic elements, but with distinctive Scottish symbolism. In the shield the Scottish arms occupy the first and fourth quarters and the English arms the second, giving the former precedence.[1] The shield is surrounded by the collar and badge of the Order of the Thistle. The crest is a crowned red lion holding a sword and sceptre (representing the Honours of Scotland), facing forward sitting on a crown. Above it is the Scots motto 'In defens', a contraction of the phrase 'In my defens God me defend'. The supporters are a crowned and chained Scottish unicorn on the dexter, and a crowned English lion on the sinister. Between each supporter and the shield is a lance displaying the flag of their respective kingdom. The grassy mound beneath the shield contains only thistles; on it is a second motto, that of the Order of the Thistle: Nemo me impune lacessit (no one will attack me with impunity).[1] The crowns in the Scottish version of the arms are conventionally stylised to resemble the Crown of Scotland.
Blazon
Changes to the blazon of the Royal Arms are in the Royal prerogative, presumed to be under ministerial advice.[11]
This table breaks down the blazons to enable comparison of the differences between the general arms and the arms used in Scotland.
Everywhere except Scotland
Scotland
Quarters I & IV
Gules three lions passant gardant in pale Or armed and langued Azure (for England)
Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory-counter-flory of the second (for Scotland)
Quarter II
Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory-counter-flory of the second (for Scotland)
Gules three lions passant gardant in pale Or armed and langued Azure (for England)
Upon the Royal helm the imperial crown proper, thereon a lion statant gardant Or imperially crowned proper
Upon the Royal helm the crown of Scotland proper, thereon a lion sejant affronté Gules armed and langued Azure, imperially crowned proper holding in his dexter paw a sword and in his sinister a sceptre, both proper
Dexter a lion rampant gardant Or imperially crowned proper, sinister a unicorn Argent, armed, crined and unguled Or, gorged with a coronet Or composed of crosses patée and fleurs de lis a chain affixed thereto passing between the forelegs and reflexed over the back also Or
Dexter a unicorn Argent imperially crowned proper, armed, crined and unguled Or, gorged with a coronet Or composed of crosses patée and fleurs de lis a chain affixed thereto passing between the forelegs and reflexed over the back also Or holding the standard of Saint Andrew, sinister a lion rampant gardant Or imperially crowned proper holding the standard of Saint George
The present royal arms originated in the separate arms of the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland; Wales had been incorporated into the Kingdom of England in the 16th century.[a] In 1603, James VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones, and, to symbolise this union of the crowns, the arms of England (which at that time were quartered with those of France) and Ireland were quartered with those of Scotland.[13] Within Scotland, the Scottish arms were placed in the first and fourth quarters and those of England in the second, with the English arms taking precedence elsewhere.
Except during the Commonwealth and The Protectorate in the mid-seventeenth century, and the use by William III of an inescutcheon of Nassau, the arms remained unchanged until the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.[13]
The Acts of Union 1707 united the two kingdoms of England and Scotland into one Kingdom of Great Britain. The arms of the new kingdom impaled England and Scotland in the first and fourth quarters, representing their union, with France in the second and Ireland in the third.[13] In 1714, the Elector of Hanover, George I, became king, and the arms of Hanover were placed in the fourth quarter.[13]
In 1801, Great Britain and Ireland were united to form the United Kingdom; the monarch's claim to the French throne was at the same time dropped, and the French quarter removed from the coat of arms.[13] The remaining quarters were rearranged so that, outside Scotland, England occupied the first and fourth, Scotland the second, Ireland the third, and Hanover an inescutcheon topped by an electoral bonnet.[13] Within Scotland, the Scottish and English quarters were reversed. In 1816, the electorate of Hanover became a kingdom, and the bonnet was replaced with a crown.[13]
In 1837, Victoria became queen of the United Kingdom but not Hanover, as the latter followed Salic law which barred women from the succession.[13] The Hanoverian inescutcheon was therefore removed, and the royal arms reached the form they have retained to the present. The only changes since have been cosmetic, such as altering the depiction of the Irish harp so that it no longer includes a bare-breasted woman.
The accession of Queen Victoria ended the personal union between the United Kingdom and Hanover, as Salic law prevented a woman from ascending the Hanoverian throne, and the inescutcheon of the arms of Hanover was removed.[4] The new arms were announced in The London Gazette on 26 July 1837[14] and first used in The Gazette on 8 August 1837.[15][16] This was the final change to the blazon of the Royal Arms and all later adaptions were purely stylistic.
On his succession in 1901, Edward VII had considered adding the Arms of Saxony as an inescutcheon as he had done when Prince of Wales, and also a representation for Wales, but he was dissuaded by officials.[17] There were also unsuccessful calls for some representation of the wider British Empire.[18][19] The Irish harp remained despite the Partition of Ireland in 1921.
The blazon of the Royal Arms has been changed only three times since the creation of the United Kingdom: in 1801, 1816 and 1837. But how these blazons are depicted have been subject to artistic interpretation and the preferences of the monarch under the royal prerogative.[b][11]
Detail of a depiction of the royal arms from the reign of George IV (1820–1830)
Detail of a stained glass window depicting the royal arms during the reign of Edward VII (1901–1910)
The blazons of the royal arms do not specify any particular heraldic crown to be depicted in the achievement, using only the term "imperial crown proper" to indicate a crown with arches and in its natural colours.[c] The first reference to the "imperial crown" of England was during the reign of Henry VIII in the Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532, which declared that "this realm of England is an empire... governed by one Supreme Head and King having the dignity and royal estate of the imperial Crown of the same".[21][d]
The actual form of the crown has varied over time. In England, the heraldic crown is ultimately based on St Edward's Crown, which has four crosses pattée and four fleurs-de-lis around the rim and two arches.[20][23][24] However, depictions have varied depending on the artist.[20]Queen Victoria, for example, had favoured a crown with rounded arches of "the type of an earlier time" since at least the 1860s,[25][26][e] and in about 1880, after she was proclaimed Empress of India, the heraldic crown was altered to give it a more imperial form by making the arches semi-circular.[24][30]
After the accession of Edward VII, the War Office raised the issue of a standardised design of the crown for use by the British Army, as several crowns of different patterns were in use.[17] In 1901, the king decided on a "Tudor" crown design based on the crown of Henry VII, as "chosen and always used by Queen Victoria personally".[20][17] This style was used until after the accession of Elizabeth II in 1952, when the design reverted to the style with depressed arches used by Charles II.[31] The College of Arms envisages that Charles III will adopt a design similar to that used by Edward VII for the coat of arms, following the selection of such a crown on his royal cypher in 2022.[32]
Winged harp
Non-winged harp
There have also been changes to the depiction of the Irish harp, with the frame variously depicted as a winged woman or as a Gaelic harp, with the latter being more typical in the twentieth century, particularly since Elizabeth II.[33]
Usage
Restrictions
The Royal Arms are the arms of dominion of the British monarch.[34][1] They differ from ordinary armorial bearings in that they are not hereditary,[13] and the right to bear them is annexed to the reigning sovereign, and therefore his government, as a royal prerogative.[11][35] Members of the royal family may be granted differenced arms, but they cannot use arms identical to those of the monarch.[34]
Crown copyright applies in perpetuity to depictions of the Royal Arms and any of its constituent parts under the royal prerogative, and The National Archives restricts rights to reproduce them.[36][37] Although Crown Copyright usually expires 50 years after publication, Section 171(b) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 made an exception for 'any right or privilege of the Crown' not written in an act of parliament, thus preserving the rights of the Crown under the unwritten royal prerogative.[38]
The Royal Arms may be displayed by holders of a Royal Warrant but may not be used as a trade mark and should only be displayed for the duration of the grant of a Royal Warrant. It is an offence under Section 12 of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 to give a false indication that any goods or services are supplied to the monarch or any member of the royal family.[42][41]
UK usage
Government
Lesser Arms
Updated versions of the Lesser ('simplified') Arms used by the UK Government since 2024, redesigned following the accession of Charles III
Lesser Arms, used on official Government websites and departmental insignia since October 2024
Former Lesser Arms, used on official Government websites and departmental insignia until October 2024
The UK Government generally uses a simplified form of the arms that omits the helm and mantling, reduces the crest to the crown alone, and has no compartment.[10] Use of the Royal Arms by government departments and agencies is governed by the Cabinet Office.[2]
The Royal Arms appear in courtrooms in England and Wales, typically behind the judge's bench, and symbolise that justice comes from the monarch.[44] One exception is the magistrates' court in the City of London,[44] where both the Royal Arms and arms of the City appear behind the bench. Courtrooms in Scotland, in the same way, usually display the Scottish version of the Royal Arms.[45] The Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 prohibited the display of the Royal Arms in courtrooms or on court building exteriors in Northern Ireland, with some exceptions.[f][46]
However, the arms are not displayed in the Middlesex Guildhall, which houses the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, as the remit of the former includes the four nations of the entire UK, and the latter is the final court of appeal for three independent republics and for the independent sultanate of Brunei Darussalam, not recognizing the judicial authority of the British monarch as their head of state, as well as for the various British territories and sovereign bases, the Crown dependencies, and other independent Commonwealth realms where the king is the head of state but separated from the judicial authority.[47]
A banner of the Royal Arms, known as the Royal Standard, is flown from buildings in which the monarch is resident or present. The Palace of Westminster, for example, usually flies the Union Flag, but flies the Royal Standard when the monarch is present for the State Opening of Parliament. When the monarch is not in residence at a palace in Scotland the Royal Banner of Scotland is flown; palaces in the rest of the UK fly the Union Flag.
The Royal Arms regularly feature on British coinage, and are used as a logo by the Royal Mint. In 2008 a new series of designs for all seven coins of £1 and below was unveiled by the Royal Mint, every one of which is drawn from the Royal Arms. The full Royal Arms appear on the one pound coin, and sections appear on each of the other six, which combine to form a complete depiction.[49]
It is customary (but not mandatory) for churches of the Church of England and Church of Scotland to display the Royal Arms as the established church of England and the national church of Scotland respectively.[50][51] If a church building of either denomination does not currently display the Royal Arms, permission from the Crown must be given before one can be used.[52]
The Royal Arms may be displayed by select businesses which supply the royal household with goods or services and have been granted a Royal Warrant. But the arms may not be used as a trade mark and should only be displayed for the duration of the grant of a Royal Warrant. It is an offence under Section 12 of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 to give a false indication that any goods or services are supplied to the monarch or any member of the royal family.[42][41]
Historically, when the Irish Free State established its own diplomatic seals in the 1930s, the Royal Arms were depicted on the throne behind George V in a unique form by having the Irish harp in two quarters and the English arms in one.[73][74]
Royal family
Members of the British royal family are granted their own personal arms. In the past, the monarch's younger sons used various differences; and married daughters of the monarch impaled the plain Royal Arms with their husbands' arms. But for many centuries now, all members of the royal family have had differenced versions of the Royal Arms settled on them by royal warrant.[75] Only children and grandchildren in the male line of the monarch are entitled to arms in this fashion: the arms of children of the monarch are differenced with a three-point label; while grandchildren of the monarch are differenced with a five-point label. An exception is made for the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, who also bears a three-point label. The labels are always white (argent) and each prince or princess has individual marks to form his or her particular difference, except the Prince of Wales, who uses a plain white three-pointed label.[75] Since 1911, the arms of the Prince of Wales also displays an inescutcheon of the ancient arms of the Principality of Wales.[75]
Queens consort and the wives of sons of the monarch also have their own personal coat of arms. Typically this will be the arms of their husband impaled with their own personal arms or those of their father, if armigerous. However, the consorts of a queen regnant are not entitled to use the Royal Arms. Thus Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was granted his own personal arms. A notable exception to this rule was Prince Albert, who used the Royal Arms (differenced by a special label) quartered with his own Saxon royal arms.[75]
Currently the following members of the royal family have their own arms based on the Royal Arms:
Children and grandchildren of the monarch in the male line
Three-point label with three red escallops in each point, alluding to the patrilineal arms of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. The label changed from five to three points, with each point bearing an escallop, upon his father's accession to the throne in 2022, as previously stated by the College of Arms.[76][77][78]
Five-point label, the first and fifth points bearing a red heart, the second and fourth points bearing a blue anchor, and the third bearing a red cross.[4]
The arms of the Duke of Edinburgh impaled with those granted in 1999 to Sophie's father, Christopher Rhys-Jones, with remainder to his elder brother Theo. The new grant was based on an unregistered 200-year-old design. The lion alludes to one of the Duchess's ancestors, the Welsh knight Elystan Glodrydd, prince of Ferrig.[83]
^A Welsh dragon was used as a supporter by the Tudor monarchs, who were of Welsh descent, but this was replaced with the current Scottish unicorn when the Stuart dynasty inherited the throne. In the 20th century the arms of the principality of Wales were added as an inescutcheon to the coat of arms of the Prince of Wales, and a banner of those arms with a green inescutcheon bearing the prince's crown is flown as his personal standard in Wales. There is also a Royal Badge of Wales, which include the arms of the principality and which is used, among other things, on the cover of Acts of the Welsh Parliament.[12]
^In heraldry, any artistic interpretation is considered to be correct provided it adheres to the written description given in the blazon.
^Although the cap of the heraldic crown is always represented as crimson even though the cap of the real crown is of purple velvet.[20]
^In William Blackstone's 1765 Commentaries on the Laws of England, he explained that 'The meaning therefore of the legislature, when it uses these terms of empire and imperial, and applies them to the realm and crown of England, is only to assert that our king is equally sovereign and independent within these his dominions, as any emperor is in his empire; and owes no kind of subjection to any other potentate on earth.'[22]
^Victoria had featured in William Wyon's gothic crown coin in 1847,[27] and the Palace of Westminster, rebuilt from 1840–1876, makes extensive use of a gothic style crown. The British had assumed direct rule over India in 1858 and the Order of the Star of India, created in 1861, depicted a Tudor Crown from its inception.[28] Victoria had a new crown made in 1870 which resembled the Tudor Crown,[29] declining to wear the Imperial State Crown which she found heavy and uncomfortable.[20]
^The Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, the courts in Armagh, Banbridge, Downpatrick, Magherafelt, Omagh, and the exterior of court buildings that had them in place prior to the enactment of the Act.
^Boutell, Charles (1864). Heraldry, historical and popular. London: Richard Bentley. pp. 320, 332. The Heraldic Crown which enjoys the Royal favour, differs from both No. 562, and the State Crown, No. 624, and inclines to the type of an earlier time ; this Heraldic Crown of our Most Gracious Sovereign is represented in No. 334, page 332, ensigning the Royal Shield of Arms.
^Boutell (1983, p. 95): "The decorative treatment of the frame is a matter of taste. The Irish harp has commonly been shown in the Royal Arms with the frame in the form of a winged woman, but the modern practice is to adopt a Celtic form associated with Brian Boru."
^ abBoutell (1983, p. 222): "Royal Arms, or Arms of Dominion, are inseparable from the rank and office of royalty, and cannot be bourne undifferenced by any person except the Sovereign."
^Cox, Noel (July 2000). "Authority for the use of the Royal Arms in Churches". Ecclesiastical Law Journal. 5 (27): 414. doi:10.1017/S0956618X00004002. Retrieved 4 August 2024. ...armorial bearings are the exclusive property of their bearer...Indeed, it can also be argued that the arms borne by the Sovereign, both the full royal arms, and parts thereof, are distinct from ordinary armorial bearings. They are borne as an attribute of the royal prerogative, and the consent of the Sovereign for their use is doubly necessary.
^"Frequently asked questions". The National Archives. Retrieved 3 August 2024. The Royal Arms and its constituent parts are protected by perpetual Crown copyright, and may only be re-used by His Majesty the King, members of the Royal Family, government departments and official holders of the Royal Warrant.
^Levine, Stephen (20 June 2012). "Royal coat of arms in the New Zealand Gazette". Te Ara. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 1 July 2024. Despite the fact that a New Zealand coat of arms was formally adopted in 1911, the royal coat of arms continued to be commonly used in New Zealand for the next 35 years.
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