We start the year with the sad news of the death of Constantine, former King of the Hellenes, yesterday on 10th January 2023 after a stroke.

His late and former Majesty's life saw much turbulence, not least that which resulted in him and his family fleeing Greece in 1967 and the formal abolition of the Monarchy in 1973.

A competitive sailor and Olympian, Constantine married his distant cousin, HRH Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark in 1964, himself being a Prince of Denmark being a descendant of HM King Christian IX. Constantine's forefather, HRH Prince William of Denmark, second son of King Cristian IX, had been elected King of Greece in 1863 and had reigned as HM King George I of the Hellenes.

Constantine has been succeeded as head of the Greek Royal Family by his eldest son Crown Prince Pavlos. As the Monarchy in Greece was formerly abolished, Pavlos cannot be called King unless the Monarchy is restored.

The Heraldry of the Greek Royal Family was covered in a previous Blog.

My condolences and sympathies go to Her Majesty Queen Anne-Marie and the Greek Royal Family.

With the Accession of HM King Charles III to the Throne of the United Kingdom, we see him take on the heraldry of a Monarch. Gone for him is the plain Label of an heir apparent and, in the absence of any directive yet as to style and design, the Coat of Arms of the Sovereign and therefore the United Kingdom remain the same as for Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. There are, of course, two different versions as Scotland has its own Blazon putting its country's Quarter first and fourth with England placed second. The Supporters, along with some subtle differences, are swapped over. The Chain of the Order of the Thistle replaces the Garter.

His Motto as Heir - Ich Dien - is dropped in favour of Dieu et Mon Droit and Nemo me impune lacessit.

The main question in most people's minds was the style of the Crown to be adopted. Queen Elizabeth II changed it from a Tudor Crown, favoured by her immediate male predecessors, to a more realistic representation of St Edward's Crown. With the announcement of His Majesty's Royal Cypher on 26th September by the College of Arms, the speculation ended, and the Tudor style Crown does appear to be confirmed to be that preferred by male monarchs. (Personally, I always viewed it to be a fallacy. But I was evidently misguided.) A representation of the Scottish Crown from the Honours of Scotland (and the Crown placed on Her late Majesty's coffin in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh) will be used on the Cypher in Scotland, presumably confirmed by Lord Lyon King of Arms. There will be no major changes overnight, though.

I did however notice something during the time immediately after the death of Queen Elizabeth II and her travels down from Scotland to London. The Irish quarter on the Standard is definitely the old-fashioned version with the bare-breasted woman on the pillar. The version on the Coat of Arms is the Celtic one which was traditionally said to be introduced in 1952 to save the blushes of the new Queen. The version on both Standards draped over Her late Majesty's coffin was the old one.

The next to change is Camilla who is now Queen Consort. The changes to her heraldry reflect more the changes to her husband's as mentioned above. As Queen Consort, she does take on the full Crown like her husband. This resolves the potential problem of what she could possible have born as Princess Consort.

​Her Majesty's Banners are correspondingly amended as below. As Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla was created Royal Lady of the Garter by Her late Majesty at the beginning of this year. She was installed and actually took the place of the late Duke of Edinburgh in St George's Chapel, Windsor. This was shown in the coverage of The Queen's funeral. Also shown was Camilla's Banner above her Stall as Duchess of Cornwall with her family Arms marshalled with those of Charles as the Prince of Wales. I presume that this will be changed.

It is not known whether Camilla actually made use of a specific Standard as Duchess of Cornwall in daily life. Whilst it would not have been impossible, it is probable that she would have used the version with the Ermine Border. Unless anyone knows any differently...

The final major change at present is with the new Prince and Princess of Wales. For one day, William and Catherine were TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge. The Charter which established the Estate of the Duchy of Cornwall on 17th March 1337 set out the rule that the Duke would be the eldest (surviving) son and heir apparent of the monarch. This was confirmed in a legal case in 1606. Both these criteria have to be met or the Duchy falls into abeyance. (King George V became Duke of Cornwall as the eldest surviving son of King Edward VII, his elder brother Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence having predeceased him. King George VI did not as, whilst being King Edward VIII's heir, he was the next brother of the Monarch.) Even with the The Succession to the Crown Act (2013), there is currently no provision for the eventuality that the direct heir presumptive is female. Unless and until Prince George's eldest child is a girl or Prince George predeceases his father and/or grandfather with no children of his own, this matter will not arise for at least two generations and therefore does not need to be legislated for yet.

The title Prince of Wales, however, is conferred at the choice of the Monarch and, whilst in practise is carried by a male heir, he does not necessarily have to be the eldest surviving son. It can be the eldest surviving grandson, as in the case of King George III, whose father Frederick Prince of Wales predeceased his father in turn, King George II.

As such, King Charles III decided to announce in his televised speech, the day after his Mother passed away, that William and Catherine were Prince and Princess of Wales. William and Catherine's Coats of Arms changed to the plain Label, dropping the red Spencer escallop. Again, it is currently believed that the style of the Arms is of a simple version without any specific announcement yet.

​Both also use the Crown of the Heir with one simple Arch, although Catherine also changes the Coronet around the neck of her white Hind supporter from that of a grandchild of the Monarch to that of a child (in law) of the Monarch.

Immediately at the demise of Her late Majesty, William and Catherine also became Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland. William has taken on the Arms of the Heir to the Scottish Throne. It is not yet know whether Catherine will make use or be entitled to her own version of Scottish Arms. 

There is an instance where the Labels were not upgraded and that is the anomaly of King Edward VII's daughters, which has been highlighted previously. They were never upgraded heraldically.

The illustration above from Sodacan does, however, show an 'upgrade' in Harry's Coronet. Gone are the external Strawberry Leaves for the son of the heir and in are the full set of Crosses Pattée and Fleurs-de-Lys for the child of a monarch.

​Whilst it has been highly publicised that the Duke of Sussex is no longer a working Royal and no longer uses the rank Your Royal Highness, he is legally His Royal Highness the Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. His wife legally remains HRH Meghan the Duchess of Sussex. Their children, in turn, legally become, as grandchildren of a monarch, HRH Prince Archie of Sussex and HRH Princess Lilibet of Sussex. However, no official announcement has been made, and Harry and his children remain The Duke of Sussex, Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor in the Line of Succession on the Royal Family's website.

The other expected change which has not been announced is for HRH The Price Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar. At the time of his marriage to Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, he was granted the title of Earl with the provision that he would be granted the Dukedom of Edinburgh on the demise of both his parents. This seemed appropriate considering Edward's involvement in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. (Also, a little highlighted fact is that 'Earl' is or at least was one of Edward's nicknames, coming from the initials of his first names - Edward Anthony Richard Louis.)

As it happened, HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh died first and, under the Grant of 1947, the title went to his first-born son, Charles. With the death of The Queen and Charles's elevation to King, the title 'merged with the Crown' and therefore became available to be granted anew. Like the confirmation of Camilla as Queen Consort and the naming of Prince William as Prince of Wales, it would have made sense to me if Edward had been granted the Dukedom of Edinburgh on the visit of the new King to the Scottish Parliament, in Edinburgh, on his his Accession Tour of the United Kingdom. This, however, did not happen and so we are awaiting news.

This may have an impact should Edward and Sophie chose to be granted Arms. Lady Louise would therefore legally become HRH Princes Louise of Edinburgh (with her brother becoming HRH Prince James of Edinburgh) and as she became 18 shortly before Christmas last year, she would be entitled to a Grant of Arms. Again, this has to be awaited.

Finally, something which also happened automatically, but which has no bearing on titles or Arms, is the fact that HRH Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, elder daughter of the Duke of York, becomes a Counsellors of State under the Regency Act. With the Accession of King Charles III, everyone basically moved up a place and Princess Beatrice now fills the gap as she becomes the fourth adult in line to the Throne. Counsellors of State are authorised to carry out most official duties in the absence of the Sovereign due to illness or travel abroad. Day-to-day support of the Sovereign will, in all probability, continue to be given by HRH The Princess Royal and TRH the Earl and Countess of Wessex, who have (except the Countess) previously acted as Counsellors of State but who are now further down the Line of Succession.

Please remember that these are still relatively early days and matters are subject to development, especially in the run-up to the expected Coronation.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth passed away yesterday at the age of 96, after a reign of 70 years. Possibly the most respected head of state in the world, there is little more to say that hasn't already been mentioned.

There will obviously be changes to be made, both heraldically and to do with titles, in the coming days. But this is not the time or place to speculate.

My thoughts are with the Royal Family. God Save King Charles III!

Sunday marks a very momentous event in European Royalty - the 70th anniversary of the Accession of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Having surpassed Queen Victoria for the longest reign of any monarch in the British Isles 6 years ago, this is the first time that a Platinum Jubilee has been celebrated here. Her Majesty has just under 2 and a half years to surpass the longest reign ever, that of HM King Louis XIV of France. However, Her Majesty has mentioned before that she doesn't think of such things as 'goals'. Life is what you make of it and The Queen, as Princess, mentioned the fact that she might have a short life in her 21st Birthday speech back in 1947.

​The anniversary is, of course, tinged with sadness for Her Majesty as it marks the day when her father, HM King George VI, passed away, whilst she was starting a lengthy world tour on his behalf with her husband, HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and had stopped over in Kenya. As has become usual, Her Majesty has travelled to Sandringham (where her father died in his sleep) but this year is understood to be staying in Wood Farm Cottage where here late husband spent many of his last months.

The main celebrations are planned for June with an extended bank holiday weekend with such ceremonies as Trooping the Colour, a Thanksgiving Service and beacons lit all over the Commonwealth.

In the meantime, it is worth noting that Her Majesty brought in changes to the United Kingdom Royal Coat of Arms when she came to the Throne in 1952. However, unlike HM Queen Margrethe of Denmark in 1972, the changes to the UK Arms were in the style rather than the substance.

Officially used from 1902 to represent not only the British monarch personally, but also "the Crown" as sovereign source of governmental authority, what was known as the Tudor Crown appeared on numerous official emblems in the United Kingdom, British Empire and Commonwealth.

While various crown symbols had been used for this purpose for many years previously, the specific Tudor Crown design was standardised at the request of Edward VII. It was never intended to represent any actual physical crown, although in shape it bears a close resemblance to the small diamond Crown of Queen Victoria. (Or, rather, Queen Victoria's small diamond Crown resembles this design.)

On her Accession, Elizabeth II requested the design be made a closer representation of the actual St Edward's Crown with which she would be crowned. The major difference is that the Tudor Crown has only gently curved Arches up to the Mound at the top, whereas St. Edward's Crown has what is usually called an S-shaped Arch with a depression in the middle.
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During the 17th century, it had become common to depict the Harp of Ireland with a woman's head and breasts, like a ship's figurehead, as the pillar. This, in 1950's Britain, has always been thought was rather embarrassing for a young queen, forgetting that Queen Victoria was younger than The Queen when she ascended the Throne. Maybe Her Majesty felt that a more modern design was needed, especially as the Republic of Ireland had changed the design in the late 1920s.

The design of the Harp used by the modern Irish state was based on the Brian Boru harp, a late-medieval Gaelic harp now in Trinity College, Dublin. Designed by English sculptor, Percy Metcalfe. this was in response to a competition held by the State for the Irish coinage, which was to start circulation in December 1928. Metcalfe's design became the model for future official interpretations of the harp as an emblem of the state.

The Harp in the United Kingdom Coat of Arms is not the same as for the Irish Republic but is equally more Gaelic in design.
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As an official part of the blazon the Compartment is a comparatively late feature of heraldry and represents some kind of landscape (often rocks or a grassy mound) upon which the Supporters stand. 

The Blazon of the Coat of Arms of Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex specifies, at her request, the Compartment.

Other than the Arms of her eldest son, The Prince Charles, both as Prince of Wales (ornamental brackets with his Badges as Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall) and as The Duke of Rothesay (a Mount covered in Thistles), and The Duchess of Sussex, all other members of the British Royal Family have plain grassy Mounts to rest their Arms and Supporters on.

Heraldically, the UK has started off celebrations with the Royal Mint issuing two commemorative coins. Whilst the 50p piece has a simple, striking design based on the number 70, the £5 coin - shown above - shows a new and equally striking representation of Her Majesty's Coat of Arms. The circular Shield is surrounded by the Garter and ensigned by the Royal Crown. What is striking is the use of a Pavilion. Many believe this to be the first time as British Royal Heraldry mainly relies on Mantling (the cloth hanging from a Helm) to provide the usual flourish. But a simple bit of research reveals that coins of Kings George IV and his brother William IV at the beginning of the 19th century show the Royal Arms with a Pavilion.

​We start an appreciation of former monarchies with the somewhat turbulent history of Greece.

Greece had won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) with the help of Britain, France and Russia. In the London Protocol of 3rd February 1830, the three Powers had assigned the borders of the new state. However, when the Governor of Greece, John Capodistria (Ioannis Kapodistrias) (Καποδíστριας) was assassinated in 1831 in Nafplion, the Greek peninsula was plunged into confusion. The Great Powers sought a formal end of the war and a recognised government in Greece.

​The London Conference of 1832 was convened to establish a stable government in Greece. The Powers offered the Throne to the Bavarian Prince, Otto as an independent king of Greece. He was only 17 and the country was run by regents whom Otto dismissed 4 years later. Otto himself didn't prove to be any more popular or effective and was deposed whilst away in the countryside in 1862.

Following Otto's departure in 1862, the 17-year old Prince William of Denmark was suggested by the Great Powers in 1863 as Greece's new king and confirmed by the Greek National Assembly as King of the Hellenes (or Greeks) to emphasise a more popular choice. The Coat of Arms was suitably altered by Royal Decree of 9th November 1863. The text of the Decree was almost identical to that of 1833, with minor additions and removals to accommodate Greece's new royal house, the House of Glücksburg. The main Shield remained the same, but a somewhat small version of the Dynastic Arms of the Glücksburg family were added in the centre of the Greek Cross when the Arms were used to represent members of the Greek Royal Family. The Shield remained surmounted by the royal crown but the supporters were changed to figures of Heracles, similar to the "Wild Men" of the Arms of Denmark. This gave rise to the use of "Ἡρακλεῖς τοῦ Στέμματος" ("Heracleses of the Crown") as a derogatory term for Greek monarchists. The Order of the Redeemer was also added, while the Royal Motto, " Ἰσχύς μου ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ λαοῦ" ("The people's love is my strength"), was also introduced.
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The Pavillion was changed to dark blue with a border design and Greek Crosses in white.

The Monarchy was abolished via a referendum in 1924 following catastrophic events in Asia Minor after World War One and the Second Hellenic Republic was declared. In 1935, a royalist general-turned-politician Georgios Kondylis took power after a coup d'état, held a rigged referendum and abolished the Republic. King George II returned to Greece and was restored to the Throne.

The full Shield of the Greater Arms of Denmark was now added to the main Greek Escutcheon, which itself was changed. The blue background was made a darker shade, rather than the light blue of the original Decree and the Cross was no longer a couped Greek Cross but a Cross where the Arms reached the edges of the Shield which more closely resembled the original National Flag. This, of course, lasted until the Monarchy in Greece was officially abolished in 1973, King Constantine II having already fled in 1967. They remain King Constantine's Arms, however.

There is evidence that Queens Consort of the Hellenes use marital Coats of Arms, as shown above left for ex-Queen Anne-Marie. This is standard heraldic usage. (Note the difference between the Inescutcheon of Denmark on the Greek side and the Shield of Denmark on Anne-Marie's side. The Greek Royal Family, being descended from King Christian IX, carries the red Quartering for the King of Iceland. The last Danish King of Iceland was his grandson, King Christian X. Anne-Marie's father dropped the Quartering on ascending the Throne as King Frederick IX.)

However, unless it was a mistake or a snub, the coffin of Queen Anne-Marie's mother-in-law, Queen Frederika in 1981 shows a Royal Standard with only the Dynastic Arms of the Glücksburg family at its centre and not her paternal Hannover Arms beside it.

The position of Crown Prince is somewhat different. Neither the constitution of 1844 or 1864, which served as the basis for other fundamental laws of the Kingdom of Greece, recognised titles of nobility. On the contrary, they prohibited even the sovereign from conferring such titles. ​As such, the heir apparent was usually referred to simply as "the diadochos" or "successor" by virtue of his function, rather than as a title, which had been the tradition in Greece since the Archaic Period. Only the future Constantine I bore the title "Duke of Sparta", created soon after his birth in 1868. However, as it ran contrary to the constitution, it caused a political scandal and, although in the end ratified by the Greek parliament, the title's use within Greece was very restricted.

The Arms shown above with a simplified Dynastic Inescutcheon and a white Label would appear to be somewhat fanciful and is hardly, if at all, supported by use. The Greek Royal Family, finding themselves in a country with little history of heraldry as the rest of Europe would understand it, have become more reliant on Monograms, following the Scandinavian Monarchies they are descended from.

On the eve of Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth issued a letter thanking everyone for their goodwill, loyalty and support, and re-affirming her continued service, even signing the letter 'Your Servant'.

What she also did - quite surprisingly - was to show her full support for the wife of her eldest son and heir, HRH Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, for the second time in just over a month in expressing her "wish that... Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service". Following Her Majesty's unprecedented (in modern times at least) elevation of her daughter-in-law to a Royal Lady of the Order of the Garter at the beginning of the year, she has now made it abundantly clear that she feels that Camilla is due the "same support that you have given me". In one fell swoop The Queen has done away with the somewhat clumsy idea that Camilla could be called Princess Consort and has paved the way to Camilla being crowned alongside Prince Charles when, "in the fullness of time" he becomes King. She is destined to wear the Crown fashioned for the late Queen Mother in 1937, coincidentally fashioned in platinum.

The point that the idea of the title Princess Consort was unworkable was raised in one of my first blogs. The paradox was that, on her husband ascending the Throne as King Regnant, Camilla would have been 'demoted' to an ordinary princess for whom, heraldically, there has been no precedent. To begin with, would she, ranking alongside her husband, carry a Crown or just a Coronet above her Shield?

Her Majesty remains ever as much of a pragmatist as her late husband and consort...

​Today sees another Scandinavian Royal landmark event and another Royal coming-of-age. This time it is HRH Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway who is celebrating.

1990 saw the Succession Laws amended in modern Norway to allow for absolute primogeniture for those eligible within the Royal Family born after that date to be in line to the Throne according to their order of birth. Princess Ingrid Alexandra is therefore somewhat of a conundrum for some people, especially those espousing modern thoughts such as gender equality and republicanism. Should they seek to abolish the Monarchy in Norway before a Queen Regnant ascends the Throne?

However, Princess Ingrid Alexandra will technically not be the first Queen Regnant of Norway. Margareta Valdemarsdatter, widow of King Håkon VI of Norway and mother of King Olav IV Håkonsson, was elected Queen in her own right in 1387 following her son's death at the age of 17. She then proceeded to create the Kalmar Union with Sweden and Denmark which saw the increasing rise of Sweden and it's tradition of male succession. Olav's death ended the Norwegian male royal line and he was the last Norwegian king to be born on Norwegian soil for 567 years. (Whilst Queen Margrethe II of Denmark was named after her maternal grandmother, the Crown Princess of Sweden née Princess Margaret of Connaught, Her Majesty had to take Margareta Valdemarsdatter into consideration when thinking about her own regnal title.)

Talking of names, that great fount of knowledge in all things to do with Scandinavian royalty Trond Norén Isaksen says that Crown Princess Mette-Marit had considered Tyra Eufemia for her daughter, after two medieval Queens Consort of Norway. However, as King Harald V was still recovering from cancer, it befell the baby's father, Crown Prince Haakon, acting as Regent, to announce his daughter's names to the State Council. Ingrid comes from both Queen Ingrid of Denmark, Crown Prince Haakon's godmother and a close friend and counsellor of Queen Sonja and also from Crown Princess Mette-Marit's paternal grandmother, Ingrid Andrea Høiby. Alexandra is actaully believed to be after the Princess's great-grandfather King Olav V who was born Prince Alexander of Denmark before his father was invited to become King of Norway.

Norwegian Heraldry is known for its simplistic and often naturalistic ways. The Royal Coat of Arms is no exception as everybody carries the same Shield, namely:

This Shield represents the Sverre Dynasty of Norway, which provided the rulers of the country from 1184 to 1319. There is no system of differencing or cadency and therefore each Member of the Norwegian Royal Family, from the Monarch to  a prince or princess, literally has the same Shield without Labels or Bordures. The only differencing made is in the Crown or Coronet. The monarch (and the monarch's spouse if a Queen Consort) naturally carries a full Crown with Arches. The Crown Prince and, it would appear, Crown Princess carry a Coronet composed of Spikes based on a Coronet made in 1846 for Crown Prince Carl of Sweden and Norway for the Coronation in Norway of his parents, King Oscar I and Queen Josephine which never took place. This Coronet was, in turn, based on a medieval design. It has never physically been worn. Heraldically, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess generally show the Coronet with its embroidered lining and all other princes and princesses, presumably including Ingrid Alexandra, show it without the lining.

It may be presumed that the Princess will be appointed to the Order of St Olav on gaining her majority, but that has yet to be seen.
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​In preparation of her 18th birthday, The Princess, as Ingrid Alexandra is now officially called, has been given her own office at the Royal Palace in Oslo as she will carry out an increasing number of official engagements on behalf of the Royal Family. However, her main focus will continue to be on her education.

The plans to mark her coming of age have been cut back due to the pandemic. However, yesterday The Princess visited the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Supreme Court. Today, she is due to receive deputations at the Royal Palace.

UPDATE: The Norwegian Royal Court website confirmed that His Majesty King Harald V had bestowed the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Olav on Ingrid Alexandra on her birthday - 21st January 2022. He also gave his granddaughter his Family Order in a private ceremony at the Royal Palace. (www.kongehuset.no/nyhet.html?tid=204577&sek=26939).

This makes the representation of the Arms of a Norwegian prince or princess, shown above, fully appropriate.

​Today officially marks the Golden Jubilee of HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Unfortunately, the main celebrations have been postponed until September due to pandemic restrictions. This year, however, also marks a change in the Royal Arms of Denmark which had basically been in existence in its then form for over 100 years.
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​Queen Margrethe's Accession on 14th January 1972 on the death of her father, HM King Frederick IX, was a landmark event. She had become heir presumptive to her father in 1953 when a constitutional amendment allowed women to inherit the throne (at that stage, only if she has no older or younger brothers). As King Frederick and Queen Ingrid had three daughters and no sons,  Margrethe inherited the Throne  instead of her uncle Hereditary Prince Knud.

King Frederick had used a version of the Greater Coat of Arms of Denmark from 1948 to 1972. The falcon of Iceland was removed, belatedly, in 1948 after the independence of Iceland from Denmark four years earlier. The change was implemented after the death of King Christian X, who used the style "King of Denmark and Iceland" until his death. In 1959, the "three-lions" insignia became the sole national Coat of Arms, and the Greater Coat of Arms was designated the Coat of Arms of the Danish Royal Family.

Frederick's version contained Quarterings corresponding to the medieval titles of "King of the Wends" [the Lindworm or gold Wyvern on red] and "King of Goths" [the single blue Lion above the rows of Hearts] and the ducal titles relating to Holstein [Nettle Leaves], Stormarn [Swan], Dithmarsch [Knight on horseback], Lauenburg [Horse's Head], and Delmenhorst [Cross Pattée]. 

​The current version was established by Royal Decree 5 July 1972. In dropping the old titles, the new Queen also dropped the old Quarterings which had become largely irrelevant. The arms of the Cross between the main quarters of the shield had been curved to indicate the Order of the Dannebrog. Margrethe's version show them straightened out to imitate the Danish flag, the Dannebrog itself.
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The first and fourth Quarters both now represent Denmark with the three crowned Lions passant accompanied by nine Hearts; the second Quarter still contains two Lions passant representing Schleswig, a former Danish province now divided between Denmark and Germany; the third Quarter is still subdivided: The three Crowns are officially interpreted as a symbol of the former Kalmar Union (rather than just Sweden) and are shown by authority of the Treaty of Knäred, signed on 21st January 1613 which ended the Kalmar War, the Ram represents the Faroe Islands and the Polar Bear represents Greenland. (Note that the polar bear in the Coat of Arms of Greenland raises its left forepaw, due to the traditional Inuit belief that polar bears are left-handed.)

The central Inescutcheon, with two red Bars on gold, represents the House of Oldenburg, the former Royal Dynasty which ruled Denmark and Norway from the middle of the fifteenth century. When the senior branch of this Dynasty became extinct in 1863, the Crown passed to Prince Christian of the cadet branch Glücksburg, whose descendants have reigned in Denmark ever since. The House of Glücksburg continues the use of the Arms of the old Oldenburg dynasty, which is still officially referred to by its old association.

All other aspects of the Arms - Supporters, Pavilion, Crown and Orders - remained the same.

Today's commemorations have been limited to a meeting of the Council of State, a Royal Visit to parliament and a Wreath-Laying at the grave of Her Majesty's parents. After all, this is the 50th Anniversary of the death of HM King Frederick IX.

Here's a health unto Her Majesty and many Congratulations on her Jubilee Year!

Shortly before Big Ben (the bell in the Elizabeth Tower at the Houses of Parliament in London) struck midnight to herald in the New Year, Buckingham Palace released a communication that HM The Queen 'has been graciously pleased' to appoint her daughter-in-law, HRH Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall to the position of Royal Lady of the Order of the Garter. This is exceptional on two levels. (Apart, that is, that the same communication announced the additional appointment of Baroness Amos - the first non-royal person of colour - to be appointed to the Garter, along with, quite controversially, ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair.)

Firstly, as we saw in the Blog about the Garter, appointments are usually, though not exclusively, announced on the Saint's Day of the Order, 23rd April, St George's Day. Secondly, it is unusual for the Monarch to appoint their heir's consort to the Order. The first appointment in modern times was Queen Alexandra, Consort of HM King Edward VII, but she had to wait until her husband ascended the Throne before he made her a Royal Lady of the Order. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth (later The Queen Mother) were similarly appointed by their husbands. However, if precedent there is, The late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was appointed to the Order by his father-in-law, HM King George VI on 19th November 1947, the day before he married the then Princess Elizabeth (the present Queen). This was just over a week after his bride, just to show that she took precedence. Both, however, were formally installed the following year at the Garter Day ceremony which Camilla will, presumably, officially go through this June. This may be to take the pressure off The Prince of Wales when he comes to the Throne as, in many circles, Camilla is still a controversial figure.

Her Royal Highness has already been  Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order and Companion of the Order of the Star of Melanesia (Papua New Guinea) since 2012. She is also a Privy Counsellor. However, the Garter takes precedence as the highest Order within the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries and therefore now (as of yesterday's appointment) may be shown on her Coat of Arms as above.

The Communication specifies 'Royal Lady' and therefore one currently assumes that Camilla has the post-nominal letters LG. Debrett's, "the modern authority on all matters of etiquette, social occasions, people of distinction and fine style", states in comparison, that HRH The Princess Royal and HRH Princess Alexandra, the Hon Lady Ogilvy, are both Royal Knights Companions and they bear the post-nominal letters KG (not LG).

​There is no limit to the number of Royal or Stranger Knights or Ladies, but Companions are restricted to 24 in total. Unfortunately, there have recently been a number of deaths and the appointment of Baroness Amos and Tony Blair still only brings the total number of Companions to 21. There may, therefore, be further appointments on 21st April this year, especially as this is Jubilee Year.

As we draw near the end of another interesting and eventful 12 months, we reflect on a year which was probably dominated in royal circles by one event, the passing away of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. This was reflected in a number of blogs:

• HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021)
• The Heraldry of Prince Philip's Funeral

We battled through the Wars of the Roses and even reached the times of the origins of Heraldry with the Plantagenets and King Richard I. We saw a major series of blogs on European Orders of Chivalry and looked at both the College of Arms in London and the Court of Lord Lyon in Scotland. A royal birth in Sweden meant a new Coat of Arms there and a Christening Update, and a coming of age in The Netherlands has brought us a new Royal Standard for a generation, but a coming of age in the UK has not so far resulted in any new Arms...

​Next year promises to be eventful with not one but two Jubilees - in Denmark and the UK. However, we have alrrady heard that the pandemic has impinged on celebrations in Denmark and on the the 18th Birthday of HRH Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway.

And so, I take this opportunity to thank all of those who follow my ramblings here and wish you a peaceful, happy and, above all, safe and healthy Christmas.

The coming of age of HRH The Princess of Orange (HRH Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands) heir to the Dutch Throne has been celebrated this week by the release of a number of official photographs, a confirmation of her Royal Standard and her appointment to two Orders of Chivalry. She was also introduced onto the Council of State and made a speech.

To mark HRH's 18th Birthday on Tuesday 7th December 2021, Catharina-Amalia's Royal Standard follows the usual pattern for a Princess of the Royal Blood. The flag is in the proportions 5:6 with a swallow tail a third of the width. The background is orange and the Cross is Nassau blue, at the centre of which is the main Shield and Crown from the Royal Coat of Arms of the Netherlands on an orange disc. In the principal corner is the Bugle of the House of Orange and below it is the Device from HRH's mother's side - a red Castle/Tower. The above comes from the official confirmation. One would expect this to be a representation of the triple-towered Castle from the Zorreguieta Arms, but even the same Device on Queen Máxima's Standard does not reflect her Arms either. Even the King's father, Prince Claus whose Arms had a triple-turreted Castle, carried the same representation on his Standard, which seems to have become a tradition. (The Gallery for the Standrads of the Dutch Royal Family has been amended accordingly.)

It has also been confirmed that The Princess of Orange's sisters, Alexia and Ariane, will use the same Standard when they come of age on their respective 18th Birthdays. This is not unusual as both King Willem-Alexander and his brothers and Princess Beatrix and her sisters share/shared the same Standard with their siblings whilst not Sovereign.

King Willem-Alexander also appointed his eldest daughter and Heir to two Orders of Chivalry by Royal Decree. On 24th December 2021, Catharina-Amalia was appointed Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Netherlands Lion and, by tradition on her Birthday itself, she was appointed a Knight in the Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau, which is jointly governed by the King of The Netherlands and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
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With HRH The Princess of Orange's 18th Birthday coming up on 7th December I just wanted to highlight a curious case and what, for me, is an anomaly in the system of Royal Coats of Arms in The Netherlands. (Or is it an innovation?)

​HM Queen Máxima and her daughters (Princesses Catharina-Amalia (Princess of Orange), Alexia and Ariane) actually share the same Coat of Arms, namely:

The only difference is that the Arms of Her Majesty are shown on a Shield and those of her daughters are shown on an oval. The Oval is not unusual for the Princesses. Princess Beatrix and her sisters showed the same Coat of Arms as each other on an Oval until Beatrix came to the Throne. After abdicating in 2013, Queen Beatrix reverted to the title Princess and also to her former Arms. However, presumably as a former Monarch, she now shows those Arms on a Shield.

The anomaly, for me, is not that Her Majesty's Arms are on a Shield and her daughters' are on an Oval or that the Princesses share exactly the same Arms as there is a precedence for that. The Dutch quartered Arms with an Inescutcheon of the consort parent's Arms are the general pattern. Rather, that Queen Máxima's Arms do not follow the usual pattern for a Consort in The Netherlands.

Granted, The Netherlands had not had a Queen Consort since Queen Emma. Her tenure as Queen Consort was from 1879 to 1890 when her husband, HM King William III, passed away, her daughter Wihelmina came to the Dutch Throne and Emma herself became not only Queen Mother but Regent until her daughter gained her majority.

​In those days, the format for a queen consort's Arms was the 'combined/married' version with separate Shields for the king's Arms and the queen consort's paternal Arms, as shown below. As there hadn't been a queen consort for over 100 years, we must look to the more recent princes consort and this is where Máxima differs.

Below are the Arms of the most recent Consorts of The Netherlands:

• ​Prince Hendrik
• ​Prince Bernhard and
• ​Prince Claus

As can be seen, especially with Princes Bernhard and Claus, the general pattern for consorts seems to be Quarterly I and IV The Kingdom of The Netherlands and II and III the consort's personal Arms.

To follow the same pattern, Queen Máxima's Arms would reasonably have been expected to be the Kingdom of The Netherlands quartering Zorreguieta, albeit on an Oval as a queen consort rather than a Shield for a prince consort. Instead, they follow the pattern of the child of a sovereign.

​Having said all that, it is rather an academic point now, but worthy of note.

Lady Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor (born 8th November 2003) is the elder child of Prince Edward and Sophie, Earl and Countess of Wessex and Forfar. As such, she turned 18 on Monday and gained her majority.

There is also the subject of her Coat of Arms as members of the British Royal Family are usually assigned a Label of difference in time for their 18th Birthday.

At the time of her parents' marriage in 1999, Edward and Sophie requested that their children should be known by the titles used by the children of an Earl and Countess. (Edward was granted the title of Earl of Wessex, rather than the usual dukedom, because he will eventually take over the late Prince Philip's Dukedom of Edinburgh. Earl is also his nickname, taken from the initials of his names - Edward Anthony Richard Louis.) This request was granted by The Queen via a Buckingham Palace press release. According to Letters Patent still in force from 1917, Louise is legally entitled to be called HRH Princess Louise of Wessex and retains the rank of princess, but her parents wanted her and her younger brother, James, Viscount Severn, to lead as normal a life as possible and then to choose. The use of the HRH would carry with it duties to do with the Royal Family which would have to be paid for out of the Sovereign Grant.

There was no announcement on Monday. In fact, as far as the rest of us were concerned, there was no fuss made of Lady Louise's Birthday made at all. She remains a Member of the British Royal Family, but is not, so to speak, a Member of the Royal House.

There is a precedent, although it was handled slightly differently. HRH Princess Patricia of Connaught, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, requested to relinquish her titles on marriage to naval Commander (later Admiral) Alexander Ramsay in 1919. The Royal Warrant was granted on 25th February, 2 days before the ceremony. Since the Royal Warrant stated that her change in style took effect only upon the solemnisation of her marriage, she entered Westminster Abbey as a Princess and Royal Highness and left as a Lady, the daughter of a royal duke. Lady Patricia Ramsey remained a member of the British Royal Family, remained in the line of succession, and attended all major royal events including two Coronations when she was dressed in the robes and Coronet befitting of her rank.

There has so far not been an announcement regarding Lady Louise's Coat of Arms. She is due to be assigned a Label of 5 points as the grandchild of a monarch. It is not, however, unusual for this not to coincide exactly with the Birthday in  question. Whilst both Prince William's and Prince Harry's Label were officially granted on the day, Princess Beatrice's was announced a month before and Princess Eugenie's 4 months after. The Duchess of Cambridge's Coat of Arms (via her father) were announced 10 days before her marriage and The Duchess of Sussex's 6 days after hers. We will just have to wait.

There are two further Royal 18th Birthdays coming up soon. HRH Princess Catharina-Amalia of The Netherlands, Princess of Orange turns 18 on 7th December and HRH Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway turns 18 on 21st January next year. Both Princesses already have Coats of Arms granted to them. Catharina Amalia shares her Arms with her two sisters. No destinction is made because she is The Princess of Orange and heir to the Dutch Throne. Ingrid Alexandra shares a version of the Norwegian Royal Arms which is common to all Princes and Princesses of Norway. The only difference between her Arms and those of her parents is that the Coronet of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess shows the lining.

It is expected that both these Princesses, being in direct line to their respective Thrones, will be appointed to their respective Council of State, although they may not yet be expected to take up active service until after their studies. They will both more than likely be granted their country's highest Order of Chivalry. Whether this is done during a ceremony such as was the case for HRH Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, Duchess of Brabant and HRH Princess Leonor of Spain, Princess of Asturias, we will again have to wait and see...

Richard I (8th September 1157 – 6th April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine and Nantes, and was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and seemed unlikely to become King, but all his brothers except the youngest, John, predeceased their father. Richard is known as Richard the Lionheart because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior.

By the age of 16, Richard had taken command of his own army, putting down rebellions in Poitou against his father. Richard was an important Christian commander during the Third Crusade, leading the campaign after the departure of Philip II of France and achieving considerable victories against his Muslim counterpart, Saladin, although he finalized a peace treaty and ended the campaign without retaking Jerusalem.

Richard was born in England, where he spent his childhood. Before becoming King, however, he lived most of his adult life in the Duchy of Aquitaine, in the southwest of France. Following his accession, he spent very little time, perhaps as little as six months, in England. Most of his life as King was spent on Crusade, in captivity (he was captured shortly before Christmas 1192 near Vienna by Leopold of Austria and was famously ransommed off) or actively defending his lands in France. Rather than regarding his kingdom as a responsibility requiring his presence as ruler, he has been perceived as preferring to use it merely as a source of revenue to support his armies. Nevertheless, he was seen as a pious hero by his subjects. He remains one of the few kings of England remembered more commonly by his epithet than his regnal number, and is an enduring iconic figure both in England and in France.

As we saw with King John, the second Great Seal of Richard I (1195) shows him bearing a shield depicting three lions passant guardant. This is the first instance of the appearance of this blazon, which later became established as the Royal Arms of England. It is likely, therefore, that Richard introduced this heraldic design. In his earlier Great Seal of 1189, he had used either one lion rampant or what many believe to depict two lions rampant combatant, Arms which he may have adopted from his father.

Richard added the third Lion on his second Great Seal (sometime between May 21st and Michaelmas in 1195) as shown by Exchequer accounts or 'Pipe Rolls'. This was to reinforce his position on his return from captivity on the Continent during which time this brother John had tried to launch a rebellion against Richard's regents. Also, by creating a new Great Seal, Richard was able to raise funds from charging to renew old charters under the old Seal. This is believed to have caused a delay in implementing the new Seal until the Spring of 1198.

The coat of three Lions continues to represent England on several coins, forms the basis of several emblems of English national sports teams (such as the England national football team and the team's "Three Lions" anthem) and endures as one of the most recognisable national symbols of England.

​More interesting for Richard heraldically was his first Great Seal. ​

Even Lions passant (walking) are shown fully within the visible half of the Shield. This includes Richard's three Lions and King John's two as Lord of Ireland. Both the 1171 Seal of Philip d'Alsace, Count of Flanders and Patrick, 6th Earl of Dunbar roughly a century later show a whole Lion rampant within the visible half of the Shield on the equestrian figure on the reverse side but show a whole shield and still just one rampant Lion on the obverse side. On both of Richard's Great Seals, the obverse side simply shows Richard enthroned with symbols of suns, moons, stars and what look like representations of Planta Genista, the broom plant Badge of the Plantagenet Dynasty. There are no other Shields to make a comparison.

Either way, the Shield carried by a king of England in the equestrian figure on the Seal was shown facing away from the viewer up until Richard's father, King Henry II. It therefore cannot be used to confirm anything other than that heraldic devises of any significance were not carried on the front of the Shield. otherwise they would have been shown.

There is an argument that two Lions back-to-back (or addorsed) were more common at that time and, hence, would have lead to more ambiguity for heraldists then. There is more evidence that, at the time of the beginnings of what we now know as heraldry, heraldic beasts could be portrayed facing either way and this shown with the same Coat of Arms in what we would nowadays effectively consider as inconsistency. The saddle described in the Itinerary may simply have shown decoration rather than anything heraldic.

That both his uncle, William FitxEmpress, and his half-brother, William Longespée, used a single Lion rampant and that an upright single Lion would have fitted better onto Shields and the tall, upright banners of the time - one such description, from the Itinerary, clearly states a single Lion on Richard's banner (ad regium cum leone ​vexillum) which agrees with a description in the the account of the Third Crusade by Ambrose - clearly suggest that it is highly unlikely that Richard bore anything other than one Lion rampant until his second Great Seal of 1189/95.

The question, therefore, is where did Richard get the Arms of two Lions passant to add the third Lion to...?

The Coat of Arms and Flag of Normandy famously show two golden Lions passant on red. Whilst the Channel Islands of  Jersey and Guernsey have changed to three Lions, Sark retains the two - The Channel Islands used to be part of Normandy. This Coat of Arms, and even the three Lions, have been erroneously attributed to King William I of England (The Conqueror). Erroneously, because heraldry as we know it didn't exist then.

Lions, very much in general at that stage, appear to have been used by the descendants of King Henry I of England, a younger son of The Conqueror. Henry's son-in-law, Geoffrey of Anjou, is probably one of the first people to have adopted a inheritable Coat of Arms showing not only a Lion but a number of Lions (six to be specific). Having lost his only son William in the sinking of the White Ship, Henry was keen to keep in with Geoffrey, the husband of Henry's only other child, Maud, especially as he needed a grandson as heir. (Women, though often instrumental in the order of succession, were generally not looked upon favourably to take on sovereignty in those dark days.)

​Within a few years of Henry I's death he was being described as the 'Lion of Justice' and his (illegitimate) sons 'the cubs of the lion'. He is known to have kept lions and leopards in his menagerie at Woodstock. All of these would only go to show Henry's association with Lions as a symbol.

Henry's nephew and successor, Stephen, has been with attributed one or three Sagittaries (half man, half horse - with or without a bow and arrow) as he ascended the Throne under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius and also with the help of archers. These are purely conjecture from later generations. A royal Banner is known to have existed, but unfortunately, although recorded as closely guarded, no contemporary detailed description exists.

And so we come to Richard and John's father King Henry II. Grandson of Henry I through the Maud who had been sidestepped earlier, he is certainly described as carrying Arms but, again, no detailed description exists and, as mentioned, his Shield on his Seal still faces away. His father, brother, sons even, chamberlains and attendants are all known to have used Lions in one way or another, and Henry II was again associated with or variously described as a 'lion', like his grandfather. Henry II looked more to his royal and ducal inheritance through his mother and the grandfather after whom he was named, rather than his father, however capable a person Geoffrey of Anjou was.

Unfortunately, the two Lions of Normandy did not become fixed until centuries after Henry II and the idea that men whom Henry II knighted used two Lions according to the practise of 'patron-in-chivalry' cannot be used to fully justify Henry's use. However, the use of the two Lions, amongst other devices, by so many men closely associated with Henry II, including, after the death of his eldest son, Henry the Young King, his favourite son John, might have meant that Richard wanted to trump them by swapping from one Lion to three!
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Before leaving Cyprus on crusade, Richard married Berengaria, the first-born daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre. Richard first grew close to her at a tournament held in her native Navarre. The wedding was held in Limassol on 12th May 1191 at the Chapel of St George and was attended by Richard's sister Joan, whom he had brought from Sicily. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp and splendour. Many feasts and entertainments, public parades and celebrations followed commemorating the event. When Richard married Berengaria he was still officially betrothed to Alys, the daughter of Louis VII of France, and he pushed for the match in order to obtain the Kingdom of Navarre as a fief, as Aquitaine had been for his father. Further, Eleanor championed the match with Berengaria, as Navarre bordered Aquitaine, thereby securing the southern border of her ancestral lands. Richard took his new wife on crusade with him briefly, though they returned separately. Berengaria had almost as much difficulty in making the journey home as her husband did, and she did not see England until after his death. After his release from German captivity, Richard showed some regret for his earlier conduct, but he was not reunited with his wife. The marriage remained childless.

By the 15th century, the mythology of the Coat of Arms would trace its origin back to the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 involving Berengaria's brother, Sancho VII, where the cavalry broke the chains of the caliph's slave-warriors and captured an emerald, among other prizes.

They may equally be a development of Berengaria's or, rather, her father's Arms - a change of colours, etc - as the white Cross pommy on blue does resemble a simplified carbuncle as well.

John (24th December 1166 – 19th October 1216)  was the youngest of the four surviving sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was nicknamed John Lackland because he was not expected to inherit significant lands. However, he also lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empire and contributing to the subsequent growth in power of the French Capetian Dynasty during the 13th century. He became his father's favourite child following the failed revolt of 1173–74 by his brothers Henry the Young King, Richard and Geoffrey. John was appointed Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England and on the continent and  unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion himself against the royal administrators of his brother, King Richard I, whilst Richard was participating in the Third Crusade, but was still proclaimed King after Richard died in 1199. He came to an agreement with Philip II of France to recognise personal  possession of the continental Angevin lands at the Peace Treaty of Le Goulet in 1200.

When war with France broke out again in 1202, John achieved early victories, but shortages of military resources and his treatment of Norman, Breton, and Anjou nobles resulted in the collapse of his empire in northern France in 1204. He spent much of the next decade attempting to regain these lands, raising huge revenues, reforming his armed forces and rebuilding continental alliances. His judicial reforms had a lasting effect on the English common law system, as well as providing an additional source of revenue. An argument with Pope Innocent III led to John's excommunication in 1209, a dispute he finally settled in 1213. John's attempt to defeat Philip in 1214 failed because of the French victory over John's allies at the battle of Bouvines. When he returned to England, John faced a rebellion by many of his barons who were unhappy with his fiscal policies and his treatment of many of England's most powerful nobles. Although both John and the barons agreed to the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215, neither side complied with its conditions. Civil war broke out shortly afterwards, with the barons aided by Louis VIII of France, which soon descended into stalemate. John died of dysentery contracted whilst on campaign in eastern England during late 1216; supporters of his son Henry III went on to achieve victory over Louis and the rebel barons the following year.

Contemporary chroniclers were mostly critical of John's performance as king, and his reign has since been the subject of significant debate and periodic revision by historians from the 16th century onwards. Historian Jim Bradbury has summarised the current historical opinion of John's positive qualities, observing that John is today usually considered a "hard-working administrator, an able man, an able general". Nonetheless, modern historians agree that he also had many faults, including what historian Ralph Turner describes as "distasteful, even dangerous personality traits", such as pettiness, spitefulness, and cruelty.

With John, before and after his accession to the Throne, we come to an interesting period in the development of the Coat of Arms of England and the distinctive three gold Lions on a red background. Some would conjecture that it was John's rebellious nature towards his elder brother which lead to the 'upgrade'.

Lions had already been emblems of kings and higher nobility for many years. King Richard I was, of course, nicknamed 'The Lionheart'. Advances in armour, such as the barrel helmet, were making identification in battle more important and more problematic during the 12th century and so a more organised system of what became heraldry became more important than just 'emblems'. Whilst the dragon banner had long been associated with England, the use of Lions was becoming more popular within Continental Europe and the family and allies of the Normans. Two gold Lions on red have been the Arms of Normandy for many centuries now. They were attributed to William the Conqueror, Richard and John's notable ancestor, and it is conjectured that their father, King Henry II, took these two Lions and added the single Aquetaine Lion of his wife Eleanor to make up the now distinctive Shield of England. This, however, is all conjecture.

John had opposed the men Richard had appointed as regents in his absence on his Crusade, and had rebelled. On the Lionheart's return a number of other things happened. Firstly, Richard reconciled himself with John and appointed him his heir in place of their nephew Arthur. This may have been to ensure more control over John as Richard also confiscated his lands. Richard also went through a second Coronation on 17th April 1194, some say to to nullify the shame of his captivity whilst on Crusade when he was handed over to Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI and ransommed off. Some say it was to ensure he was the recognised ruler of the Kingdom.

Two Lions passant (i.e. walking) were associated with King Henry II, whether they were guardant (looking out) or not. They were certainly John's Arms as Prince and Lord of Ireland, and also associated with his rebel supporters, especially in the period 1194 and 1195. It was therefore not enough for Richard just to inherit his father's Arms, but a necessity to build on them to again emphasise his position. King Richard I's second Great Seal, produced sometime between May and Michaelmas 1195, shows the first evidence of the change to three Lions. 

In turn, when Richard died in 1199, John had a choice. Up until then, succession to the English Throne had been no easy matter. Since the Conquest, William II and Richard I had been the only Anglo-Norman Kings who had directly succeeded their fathers. This instability may well have been reflected in the ruling house's late adaptation of a single, hereditary Shield,  in comparison, for instance, with France. Thus, John's adoption of his brother's three Lions, whilst not a foregone conclusion, was a wise move in indicating he had come into his elder brother's full inheritance.

​The rest, as they say, is history...

John's tomb (the oldest royal effigy in England) in Worcester Cathedral (shown here in photographs from the author's personal collection) shows the English Arms on its stone plinth. However, this plinth was a later addition, made in the 16th century at the same time as the nearby magnificent monuments to Prince Arthur, Prince of Wales, brother of King Henry VIII..

John was not a lucky King, as we have seen. Legend has it that he lost the Crown Jewels in The Wash - a bay and estuary in eastern England known to be surrounded by low-lying marshy land and riddled with quicksand - whilst on his last campaign when he was already fatally ill. Some say, however, that only a few pack-horses were lost, and the exact location has never been confirmed.

He remains the only English/British King of that name, not helped by the fact that John Baliol, King of Scotland a little while later, is thought of as a largely ineffectual King. Only two other members of the British Royal Family have been given the name - HRH Prince Alexander John of Wales (youngest son of the later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) and HRH The Prince John (youngest son of Alexander John's elder brother King George V and Queen Mary). Alexander John was born prematurely in 1871 and died 24 hours later. Prince John is famous as the 'Lost Prince'. He was epileptic and was kept from the public eye at Sandringham until he died after a severe seizure in 1916 at the age of only 13. His illness was disclosed to the wider public only after his death.
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Rumours abounded that John was so infatuated that he would stay in bed till noon and Isabella was described as 'more Jezebel than Isabel' by her harsher critics. Notwithstanding the criticism, John and Isabella had five children, all of whom survived into adulthood. When John died in October 1216, Isabella's first act was to arrange the speedy Coronation of her nine-year-old son, Henry, at Gloucester on 28th October. As the Crown Jewels had supposedly recently been lost in The Wash, Isabella supplied her own golden circlet to be used instead.

In the Spring of 1220, Isabella married Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, by whom she had another nine children. Hugh was the son of her former fiancé and was actually promised to Isabella's daughter Joan. The mother still retained the beauty which had entranced John and so Joan was promised to the King of Scotland. Unfortunately, Isabella did not seek permission from the King's Council to re-marry and so, like her first husband, had lands and her pension as Queen Dowager taken off her.

Isabella was possessed of a fiery temper, which had been the equal of her first husband, but meant she didn't take kindly to being a virtually penniless countess in France. Some of Isabella's contemporaries, as well as later writers, claim that she formed a conspiracy against King Louis IX of France in 1241, after being publicly snubbed by his mother, Blanche of Castile, for whom she had a deep-seated hatred. In 1244, after the plot had failed, Isabella was accused of attempting to poison the King when two cooks confessed to having been in Isabella's pay. To avoid arrest, she sought refuge in Fontevraud Abbey, where she died two years later.
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Isablla's family Arms - Lozengy or and gueles - are shown on the tomb of her son by her second husband, William de Valance, Earl of Pembroke in Westminster Abbey.
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Richard (5th or 6th January 1209 – 2nd April 1272) was the second son of King John and Isabella. He was created Earl of Cornwall on 30th May 1227.

Between then and 1238 he frequently opposed his brother, King Henry III, by joining the barons in several crises. However, he never proceeded to rebellion but always made Henry pay heavily for reconciliation. He took the cross in 1236 and led a small English force to the Holy Land from June 1240 to January 1242, refortifying Ascalon and negotiating an advantageous treaty. During Henry III’s disastrous Poitevin campaign in France in 1242, Richard’s prompt retreat at Saintes and his persuasive diplomacy at Taillebourg saved Henry from capture. While acting regent of England during Henry’s Gascon visit (1253–54), Richard summoned knights to represent the shires at the critical Easter Parliament of 1254. Reputedly the richest magnate in England, he refused Pope Innocent IV’s offer of the Sicilian crown (1252–53), saying, according to Matthew Paris, “You might as well say, ‘I make you a present of the moon - step up to the sky and take it down’.” Instead, his brother King Henry purchased the kingdom for his own son Edmund. Richard accepted imperial candidature in 1256. Purchasing four of the seven electoral votes, Richard was elected King of the Romans and was crowned at Aachen on 17th May 1257. By lavish bribery he gained recognition throughout the Rhineland, returning home in January 1259.

Richard helped Henry to overthrow the Provisions of Oxford, but from June to October 1260 he again visited Germany, then discovering the impossibility of his hopes of the imperial crown.

He again helped Henry invaluably against the rebel barons (1263–64) but was captured at Lewes on 14th May 1264 and was imprisoned at Wallingford and then at Kenilworth until the overthrow of Simon de Montfort at Evesham on 4th August 1265. He then worked ceaselessly to obtain the relatively moderate settlement of the Dictum of Kenilworth on 31st October 1266. His fourth and last visit to Germany from August 1268 to August 1269 is notable only for his third marriage, to Beatrice of Falkenburg.

Richard's claims to Gascony and Poitou were never more than nominal, and in 1241 King Louis IX of France invested his own brother Alphonse with Poitou. Richard and Henry were encouraged to recover Poitou by their stepfather, Hugh X of Lusignan, but the expedition turned into a military fiasco after Hugh betrayed them. Having said that, Richard did not take on a version of the English Arms but those of Poitou, namely:

It is argued that these Arms represent both Poitou and Cornwall with the red Lion going back to William FitzEmpress who had also been a Count Poitou and the Bezants on black already representing Cornwall and, quite bizarrely, their propensity for being the most enterprising and prosperous merchants and pawnbrokers in all England, the symbol of the association of pawnbrokers being fifteen gold balls!

It is also argued that they are 15 gold coins to represent a ransom paid to the Saracens to release Richard from captivity.

However, James Planché (Somerset Herald in the 18th century) discovered a neglected manuscript later called the Planché Roll after him which showed that the Bezants (the golden balls) originated in Poitou and not the other way round. In reality, they represented golden peas (pois in French) and were so a pun on the name Poitou. The Arms of Cornwall were actually designed in the 15th century, based on Richard's Arms.

When he was elected and crowned King of the Romans, he placed his Poitou Arms as a dynastic Inescutcheon onto the breast of the Imperial Eagle.

The Poitou/Cornwall Arms were used by Richard's surviving son, Edmund, by his second wife (Sanchia of Provence) as second Earl. Edmund, however, died with no issue and so Edmund's entire estate passed to the Crown, excepting a dower for his widow, Margaret, sister of Gilbert de Clare.

Henry III (1st October 1207 – 16th November 1272) was elder son and heir of King John and was nine years old when he came to the Throne on his father's death. At that time, London and much of eastern England were in the hands of rebel barons led by Prince Louis (later King Louis VIII of France), son of the French King Philip II Augustus. Henry was therefore hastily crowned at Gloucester Abbey on 28th October 1216 and then again with full ceremonial in Westminster Abbey on 17th May 1220. A regency council presided over by the venerable William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, was formed to rule for Henry. By 1217 the rebels had been defeated and Louis forced to withdraw from England. After Pembroke’s death in 1219 Hubert de Burgh ran the government until he was dismissed by Henry in 1232. Two ambitious Frenchmen, Peter des Roches and Peter des Rivaux, then dominated Henry’s regime until the barons brought about their expulsion in 1234. That event marked the beginning of Henry’s personal rule.

Although Henry was charitable and cultured, he lacked the ability to rule effectively. In diplomatic and military affairs he proved to be arrogant yet cowardly, ambitious yet impractical. The breach between the King and his barons (who had quarrelled with his father) began as early as 1237, when they expressed outrage at the influence exercised over the government by Henry’s Savoyard relatives. The marriage arranged by Henry in 1238 between his sister, Eleanor, and his brilliant young French favourite, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, increased foreign influence and further aroused the nobility’s hostility. In 1242 Henry’s Lusignan half brothers involved him in a costly and disastrous military venture in France. The barons then began to demand a voice in selecting Henry’s counsellors, but the King repeatedly rejected their proposal. Finally, in 1254 Henry made a serious mistake. He concluded an agreement with Pope Innocent IV, offering to finance Papal wars in Sicily if the Pope would grant his infant son, Edmund, the Sicilian crown. Four years later Pope Alexander IV threatened to excommunicate Henry for failing to meet this financial obligation. Henry appealed to the barons for funds, but they agreed to cooperate only if he would accept far-reaching reforms. These measures, the Provisions of Oxford, provided for the creation of a 15-member privy council, selected (indirectly) by the barons, to advise the King and oversee the entire administration. The barons, however, soon quarrelled among themselves and Henry seized the opportunity to renounce the Provisions in 1261. In April 1264 de Montfort, who had emerged as Henry’s major baronial opponent, raised a rebellion; the following month he defeated and captured the King and his eldest son, Edward, at the Battle of Lewes, Sussex on 14th May 1264. De Montfort ruled England in Henry’s name until he was defeated and killed by Edward at the Battle of Evesham, Worcestershire, in August 1265. Henry, weak and senile, then allowed Edward to take charge of the government until Edward ascended the Throne in his own right on Henry's death in 1272.

Henry's life work was the reconstruction of Westminster Abbey in the new Gothic style of architechture. The tile showing Henry's Coat of Arms, which he inherited from his father, is taken from the floor of the Chapter House of the Abbey. Henry had a magnificent funeral and his body was temporarily buried in the old grave of Edward the Confessor, whom Henry venerated, in the Abbey. Nineteen years later he was placed in the splendid tomb put up by his son Edward I to the north of the Shrine of St Edward, although his heart was delivered to the Abbey at Fontevrault in France as Henry had wished. Although Henry's tomb shows no heraldry as such, the metal plate on which the King lies, the pillows beneath his head and his shoes are decorated with the lions of England.
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Eleanor of Provence (c. 1223 – 24th/25th June 1291) was the second of the four daughters of Berengar, Count of Provence, and Beatrice of Savoy. Eleanor became Queen Consort of England as the wife of King Henry III from 1236 until his death in 1272. She served as regent of England during the absence of her spouse in 1253.

Although she was completely devoted to her husband and staunchly defended him against the rebel Simon de Montfort, she was very much hated by Londoners. She had brought many relatives with her to England in her retinue. They were known as "the Savoyards" and were given influential positions in government. On one occasion, Eleanor's barge was attacked by angry Londoners who pelted her. The fact that she brought no dowry with her did not help her reputation.

Eleanor was renowned for her learning, cleverness, and skill at writing poetry. She was also known for her beauty and as a leader of fashion, importing clothes from France.

Eleanor and Henry had five children together. They possibly had four other sons who died in childhood as did Katherine, but their existence is in doubt as there is no contemporary record of them.

• Edward I (1239–1307) - See his Blog.
• Margaret (1240–1275) married King Alexander III of Scotland, by whom she had issue.
• Beatrice (1242–1275), married John II, Duke of Brittany, by whom she had issue.
• Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (1245–1296) - See below.
• Katherine (25 November 1253 – 3 May 1257)

Whilst the Coat of Arms of her father may be shown dimidiating with King Henry's, this may be apocryphal as impalements of this nature were not yet in use and Eleanor's Seals as Queen only show Henry's Arms.

There is, however, a theory that England owes its Badge of the Rose to Eleanor as it is believed that the rose plant was brought to Provence by returning Crusaders and introduced to England by the Queen. Before the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor Dynasty, many of Eleanor's descendants used the Rose as a Badge, including the golden Rose of Provence used by her son King Edward I. The County of Hampshire is believed to have adopted the Rose as an emblem due to its association with Henry and Eleanor's family. Henry had been born at Winchester.
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Edmund appears to be the first English prince to have been specifically granted a Label. In this case it was of three Points azure (blue) and each Point carried three gold Fleurs-de-Lys, which is generally called a Label of France. There appears to be no specific reason why this Label was chosen as it predates his marriage to his French second wife, Blanche. The previous second son of an English King, who would himself become King John, had a different Coat of Arms before he ascended the Throne as we will see. These were the early days of Heraldry and practices changed about. The Label of France soon became associated with the Ducky of Lancaster, however, and not only followed Edmund's line down but also remains the Coat of Arms for the Duchy to this day.

Unfortunately, to add to any confusion, Edmund's elaborate tomb shows various Shields with various Labels - plain or fleury, four or five-pointed.

Edmund's second wife was Blanche of Artois, daughter of Robert, Count of Artois who was the Son of Louis VIII le Lion, King of France, and Blanche de Castille. Her Arms were therefore of France with a red Label, each of the Points of which showed three gold Castles for Castille. She was the widow of Henry I, King of Navarre and was herself Countess Palatine of Champagne. After Henry of Navarre's death she became regent in the name of their infant daughter, Joan I. She passed on the regency of Navarre to Philip III of France, her cousin and her daughter's prospective father-in-law, but retained the administration of Champagne which she later shared with Edmund.

Edmund and Blanche's elder son, Thomas, succeeded as Earl in 1296 and carried his father's Arms. He died childless.

Thomas's younger brother, Henry, is heraldically more interesting. He was summoned to Parliament on 6th February 1298/99 by writ directed to Henrico de Lancastre nepoti Regis ("Henry of Lancaster, nephew of the king", Edward I), by which he is held to have become Baron Lancaster. He carried the Arms of England with a Baston azure for difference.

After a period of longstanding opposition to King Edward II and his advisors, including joining two open rebellions, Henry's elder brother Thomas had been convicted of treason, executed and had his lands and titles forfeited in 1322. Henry had not participate in his brother's rebellions but he later petitioned for his brother's lands and titles. On 29th March 1324 Henry was invested as Earl of Leicester. He dropped the Baston and took up the Label of France. It was Henry's younger granddaughter, also Blanche, who married John of Gaunt from whom the Lancastrian Kings of England are descended and who took on the Label of France as well.

Edward I (17th/18th June 1239 – 7th July 1307) was born over night at the Palace of Westminster to King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. He was named after King Edward the Confessor, whom his piousfather revered, having rebuilt and enlarged the Confessor's Abbey church at Westminster. Edward was also known as Edward Longshanks, because of his height, and the Hammer of the Scots, because... he hammered the Scots, having also tried it with the Welsh on the way.

​Edward was involved from an early age in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included briefly siding with a baronial reform movement, supporting the Provisions of Oxford, in 1259. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained loyal throughout the subsequent armed conflict, known as the Second Barons' War. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, but escaped after a few months and defeated the baronial leader Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Within two years the rebellion was extinguished and, with England pacified, Edward joined the Ninth Crusade to the Holy Land. He was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
 
Edward’s Seals before he became King, when he was simply described as “Henry’s son”, his Arms show England with a Label of five Points – presumably blue, as shown in Glover’s Roll – as his son Alfonso would show. When he became King, Edward dropped the Label and showed the three gold Lions passant on red of his father. This is supported by his Great Seal which shows, not only his Arms on his Shield but also, for the first time, on the Caparison (or ornamental covering) on his horse.
 
Edward spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law. He investigated the tenure of various feudal liberties, and reformed criminal and property law. Increasingly, however, Edward's attention was drawn towards military affairs. After suppressing a minor rebellion in Wales in 1276–77, Edward responded to a second rebellion in 1282–83 with a full-scale war of conquest. After a successful campaign, he subjected Wales to English rule, built a series of castles and towns and settled them with English people. Next, his efforts were directed towards the Scotland. Initially invited to arbitrate a succession dispute, Edward claimed feudal suzerainty over the Kingdom. The war that followed continued after Edward's death, even though the English seemed victorious at several points. Simultaneously, Edward found himself at war with France (a Scottish ally) after King Philip IV of France had confiscated the Duchy of Gascony, which until then had been held in personal union with the Kingdom of England. Although Edward recovered his Duchy, this conflict relieved English military pressure against Scotland. By the mid-1290s extensive military campaigns required high levels of taxation and Edward met with both lay and ecclesiastical opposition. When the King died of dysentery in 1307, he left to his son Edward II an ongoing war with Scotland and many financial and political problems. Edward I’s wish was for his body to be carried at the head of the army into battle with the Scots, but, although possibly prepared for, this wish was not carried out.
 
Edward I was temperamental, and this, along with his height, made him an intimidating man. Nevertheless, he held the respect for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship, as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith. 

Eleanor of Castile (1241 – 28th November 1290) was born in Burgos, daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile and Joan, Countess of Ponthieu and was the first wife of Edward I, whom she married as part of a political deal to affirm English sovereignty over Gascony.
 
The marriage was known to be particularly close and Eleanor travelled extensively with her husband. She was with him on the Ninth Crusade, when he was wounded at Acre, but the popular story of her saving his life by sucking out the poison has long been discredited. When she died, at Harby near Lincoln, her grieving husband famously ordered a stone cross to be erected at each stopping-place on the journey to London, ending at Charing Cross - Charing being traditionally thought to be a corruption of the French "Chère Reine" meaning "Dear Queen". Her name is also, traditionally, held to be the origin of the area "Elephant and Castle" in London (a corruption of "Eleanor of Castile"). Both of these legends have recently been called in to question, though.
 
Eleanor was better educated than most medieval queens, her father and half-brother, Alfonso X, encouraging extensive education of royal children, and exerted a strong cultural influence on the nation. She was a keen patron of literature, and encouraged the use of tapestries, carpets and tableware in the Spanish style, as well as innovative garden designs. She was also a successful businesswoman, endowed with her own fortune as Countess of Ponthieu.

Eleanor's father's Arms of Castile and Leon represent the uniting of the two Kingdoms in his person and provide one of the earliest examples of two Coats regularly quartered onto one Shield. The practice of ladies, even queens, impaling their family Arms with those of their husbands was yet to evolve, so the Arms above can only be held as attributed. Eleanor's Seal portrays the Arms of England on one side and the Charges (Castles and Lions) from her father's Arms as individual figures in the background on the other side.
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Alphonso or Alfonso (24th November 1273 – 19th August 1284) was styled Earl of Chester. The ninth child of Edward and Eleanor, he was heir apparent to the English throne after his two elder brothers had died but never became king. Alphonso may seem a strange name for an English prince, but it was his half-uncle’s name and royalty in England, descended from the Normans, chose names for their children from Romance languages rather than Anglo Saxon names. Eleanor even persuaded her half-brother to travel to Gascony to serve as godfather at the young prince's baptism.
 
At the age of ten, Alphonso was engaged to Margaret, daughter of Floris V, Count of Holland but he fell ill and died a few months before the wedding was to take place. After the deaths of John, Henry and now Alphonso, Edward and Eleanor were left with the four-month-old Edward as their only son, although five daughters survived into adulthood

​Margaret of France (c. 1279 – 14th February 1318) was the fourth and last child of King Philip III of France, and the second child by his second wife Marie of Brabant. Her father died when she was three years old and she grew up under the supervision of her mother and her sister-in-law, Joan of Navarre, the wife of her half-brother, King Philip IV.
 
Although Edward was filled with grief upon the death of Eleanor, he found it politically expedient to arrange another marriage, not only for himself but for his young son, Edward of Caernarfon, Prince of Wales. He may also have been eager for more children, especially a ‘spare’ to young Edward. Negotiations got under way including Margaret and her sister Blanche and Philip IV’s daughter Isabella. Also included, in the dowry, was Gascony which Philip had recently taken over and which Edward I was eager to regain. However, Edward found out that Blanche was to be betrothed to Rudolph of Germany and so declared war on Philip. After five years, a truce was agreed upon under the influence of Pope Boniface VIII and a series of treaties in the first half of 1299 provided terms for a double marriage: King Edward with Margaret and the Prince Edward with Isabella. Even though the King was 40 years older than Margaret, they found domestic bliss.
 
Although never crowned due to financial restraints, Margaret acted fully as queen and was especially adept at calming the King’s temper and acting as a diplomat and mediator, especially between the King and his eldest surviving son, and the young Edward’s friends.
 
Margaret had three children by Edward: Thomas (named after Thomas Beckett to whom she had prayed during pregnancy), Edmund (named after Edward’s brother) and Eleanor (named after Edward’s first wife). Unfortunately, the little Eleanor did not survive young childhood.
 
In 1307, Marguerite accompanied Edward on campaign to Scotland, but Edward died on July 7 at Burgh by Sands. Marguerite was overcome with grief and, while only in her late twenties, never married again, allegedly stating: “…when Edward died, all men died for me”. She retired her body was dressed in a Franciscan habit and taken for burial at Christ Church Greyfriars in London, the foundation of which she had generously endowed.

Margaret's Arms are known to have been England dimidiating France ancien, i.e. only half or just over a half of each of the two Coats of Arms is seen when they are brought together. This method of marshalling soon died out in favour of impalement which shows both Coats of Arms in full.

In the instance of the casket, the illustration actually shows the bride's Arms as Princess of Wales with a common Label across the whole of the Shield. The opposite side (not shown) shows Margaret's dimidiated Arms which at that stage were essentially the same as her step-daughter-in-law/half-niece but without the Label. When Edward II became King and Isabelle Queen, they were essentially the same! Isabella probably changed to marshalling to tell the difference from her mother-in-law and that may be where the changeover from dimidiating came from.

He was known for his hot and violent temper, which he inherited from his father, and allied himself with Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer when they invaded England in 1326, and stood as one of the judges in the trials against his half-brother’s new favourites, the Despensers. Thomas became a chief advisor to his nephew King Edward III.
 
Thomas died on 4th August 1338, and was buried in the choir of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. As he had no surviving sons, Thomas was succeeded by his daughter, Margaret, as Countess of Norfolk. She was later created Duchess of Norfolk for life in 1397.

Instead of blue, Thomas chose the colour white for the Label on his Arms. This is the first known use of a white Label but at that stage the colour was of no other significance than that of distinction. The next use was by the Black Prince at a stage when heraldry was becoming more regulated and only then became the regular Label for the heir apparent.
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Once the new king, Edward III, came of age and assumed personal control of the government, he annulled the charges against his uncle. The title and estates of the Earl of Kent descended on Edmund's son, also called Edmund. When this Edmund died in 1331, his brother John became Earl.

The younger Edmund was succeeded by his brother John and he, in turn, was succeeded by his elder sister Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, who went on to marry the Black Prince. The Kents placed a white Bordure around the Arms of England for difference and this Shield was inherited down the Kent line, even used by Joan.

The younger Edward is known to have shown the English Arms with a blue Label of three Points as Prince, this being mentioned in a poem from 1300 about the siege of Caerlaverock near present-day Dumfries, having begun to accompany his father on campaigns to pacify Scotland. In 1306, he was knighted in a grand ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

​Following his father's death, Edward succeeded to the throne in 1307 and took on his father's undifferenced Arms. Soon after his father's death, Edward married Isabella, the daughter of the powerful King Philip IV of France, in 1308, as part of a long-running effort to resolve tensions between the English and French crowns. However, the Queen would not prove to be a problem yet...

Edward had a close and controversial relationship with Piers Gaveston, who had joined his household in 1300. The precise nature of their relationship is uncertain; they may have been friends, lovers, or sworn brothers. Gaveston's presence at the royal wedding aggravated the English nobility enough, but his presence at Edward and Isabella's Coronation at Westminster a few days later, with Gaveston carrying St Edward's Crown, proved worse. Edward was forced to exile him. On Gaveston's return, the barons pressed the King into agreeing to wide-ranging reforms, called the Ordinances of 1311. The newly empowered barons banished Gaveston, to which Edward responded by revoking the reforms and recalling his favourite. Led by Edward's cousin Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, a group of the barons seized and executed Gaveston in 1312, beginning several years of armed confrontation. English forces were pushed back in Scotland, where Edward was decisively defeated by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Widespread famine followed, and criticism of the king's reign mounted.

The Despenser family, in particular Hugh Despenser the Younger, became close friends and advisers to Edward, but Lancaster and many of the barons seized the Despensers' lands in 1321, and forced the King to exile them. In response, Edward led a short military campaign, capturing and executing Lancaster. Edward and the Despensers strengthened their grip on power, formally revoking the 1311 reforms, executing their enemies and confiscating estates. Opposition to the regime grew and, when Isabella was sent to France to negotiate a peace treaty in 1325, she turned against Edward and refused to return. Instead, she allied herself with the exiled Roger Mortimer and invaded England with a small army in 1326. Edward's regime collapsed and he fled to Wales, where he was captured in November. The King was forced to relinquish his crown in January 1327 in favour of his 14-year-old son, Edward III, and he died in Berkeley Castle on 21st September, probably murdered on the orders of the new regime.
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Isabella of France (c. 1295 – 22nd August 1358), sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France or Louve de France in French, was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre. Isabella was notable in her lifetime for her diplomatic skills, intelligence, and beauty, and has become somewhat of a "femme fatale" figure over the years, usually portrayed as a beautiful but cruel and manipulative figure.
 
Isabella arrived in England at the age of 12 during a period of growing conflict between the King and the powerful baronial factions. Her new husband, Edward II, was notorious for the patronage he lavished on his favourite, Piers Gaveston, but the Queen supported Edward during these early years, forming a working relationship with Piers and using her relationship with the French monarchy to bolster her own authority and power. After the death of Gaveston at the hands of the barons in 1312, however, Edward later turned to a new favourite, Hugh Despenser the Younger, and attempted to take revenge on the barons. Isabella could not tolerate Hugh Despenser and by 1325 her marriage to Edward was at a breaking point.
 
Travelling to France on a diplomatic mission, Isabella may have begun an affair with Roger Mortimer, and the two may possibly have agreed at this point to depose Edward and oust the Despenser family. The Queen returned to England with a small mercenary army in 1326, moving rapidly across England, and the King's forces deserted him. Isabella deposed Edward, becoming regent on behalf of her son, Edward III. Some believe that Isabella or Mortimer then arranged the murder of Edward II. However, Isabella and Mortimer's regime soon began to crumble, partly because of her lavish spending, but also because the Queen successfully, but unpopularly, resolved long-running problems such as the wars with Scotland.
 
In 1330, aged 18, Edward III forcibly asserted his authority, and Mortimer was executed. Isabella lost her regency and was put under arrest for two years, but her son reprieved her and she lived for many years in considerable style.

On one of Isabella's seals, she dimidiates England and France ancient, but on another seal she bears two escutcheons simultaneously, one with the arms of England and the other dimidiating the arms of her parents, Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre. Another seal shows Isabella's as quarterly of four:

Both Navarre and Champagne come from Isabelle's mother, Joan I of Navarre. Her only brother, Theobald, died after he fell from a battlement at the castle of Estella when she was a year old. Their father did not live long afterwards and, as his now only legitimate heir, Joan succeeded her father under the regency of her mother Blanche. Joan's 1284 marriage to Philip the Fair, the future King Philip IV of France the following year, united the crown of Navarre to that of France and saw Champagne devolve to the French royal domain.
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Princess Marie, the wife of the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein Hans-Adam II, suffered a stroke last Wednesday and passed away yesterday afternoon at a hospital in Grabs, Switzerland at the age of 81. Her family was with her during her stay at the hospital.

Princess Marie was born on 14th April 1940 in Prague, the daughter of Count Ferdinand Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau and his wife Countess Henriette Caroline of Ledebur-Wicheln. She married her distant cousin, Prince Hans-Adam II 'von und zu' Liechtenstein at St. Florin's Cathedral in Vaduz on 30th July 1967. They had four children, namely, Hereditary Prince Alois, Prince Maximilian, Prince Constantin, and Princess Tatjana. Princess Marie worked for many organizations in Liechtenstein and especially paid attention to the fields of education, culture and arts. She was president of the Liechtenstein Red Cross from 1985 to 2015.

Hans Adam's distant predecessor, Prince Alois II, also married into the Kinsky family, this time Countess Franziska de Paula Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau, which made Marie and Hans Adam distant cousins. (In fact, Hans Adam is descended form Alois and Franziska three times. Twice through his paternal line and the third time through his maternal grandmother!) The Kinsky Arms have therefore featured in the Liechtenstein Royal Family a number of times.

Legend has it that the distinctively simple Coat of Arms of the Kinsky family - looking remarkably like waves - represent three Wolves' Teeth. (Though some other sources claim that they are bears' teeth.) The Kinsky family is supposed to have started more than 1000 years ago when a beautiful King's daughter went out hunting in the forest where she was attacked by a pack of wolves. Everyone left the beautiful princess to herself except for a young man who killed off some of the wolves and fought off the rest, thus saving her life. The young man was ennobled by the princess' father for his heroic actions.

In all reality, the Kinsky family's history can be traced back to around the year 1150 while they were firstly mentioned on 16th May 1237. The family's original name was Wchynsky after the village of Vchynice (or Wchinitz) in northern Bohemia. It later evolved via Chynsky to Kinsky, the latter being used since at least 1628.

Also in reality, the Royal Family of Liechtenstein effectively use just the Princely Arms.

Our condolences and deepest sympathies to the Royal Family of Liechtenstein.

With King ​Edward III we come to a great patriarch of the Plantangenet Dynasty. Unfortunately, he would be a difficult act to follow, and not all his many descendants would live up to his reputation.

​Edward (13th November 1312 – 21st June 1377), known as Edward of Windsor before his accession from his birthplace, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 after the disastrous and unorthodox reign of his father, Edward II, who was deposed by his own wife, Isabella of France, and her lover Roger Mortimer. Edward III is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority. He transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. His fifty-year reign was the second-longest in medieval English history and saw vital developments in legislation and government, in particular the evolution of the English Parliament, as well as the ravages of the Black Death. He outlived his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, and the throne passed to his grandson, Richard II.

After the start of the Hundred Years' War in 1337, Edward repudiated his homage to Philip VI of France, a distant maternal cousin and first king of the House of Valois after succeeding Edward's uncles who had all died in quick succession, one with a son who died in infancy and the others without a son at all. For the times, Edward's claim to the French Throne was weak as it was through the female line. Having said that, Edward claimed the title of King of France which, though in reality was dropped in 1360 under the terms of the Treaty of Brétigny/Calais, continued in theory or, rather, legend until the reign of King George III. At the time, ambitions for further chivalrous success and the economic necessity of helping the wool trade were potent factors in the decision to go to war.

Not only did Edward assume the title of King of France and quarter the French Arms with those of England, he was the first to quarter Arms in England - full stop - an act which had a significant effect on marshalling Arms in England and was probably the origin of our quartering the Arms of an heraldic heiress with those of her husband ever since. The idea may actually come from Edward's grandmother, Eleanor of Castile who brought her father's Arms, namely Quarterly, Leon and Castile to England.

Also at the time, France had a more important position in Europe to England and the Capet Dynasty would have been regarded as senior to the Plantagenets. It would therefore seem to be quite natural to place the Arms of the senior house in the first Quarter.

The Fleur-de-Lys was to become part not only of the English Royal Arms for over 400 years, but also, in ornamental form, on regalia such as Crowns, Coronets and Sceptres. Many and varied suggestions for design inspiration include a spear-head, a bee or a frog, but the most rational and widely accepted assumption is that it represents a flower - either the lily (symbol of the Virgin Mary) or the yellow flag iris. According to Pierre-Augustin Boissier de Sauvages, the Franks lived around the river Leie or Lys in Flanders before moving into Gaul. They referred to a yellow Iris as the Fleur-de-Lys, i.e. the flower of the River Lys. The Fleur-de-Lys is an emblem of the north-eastern French city of Lille and Iris pseudacorus is recognised as a symbol for the Brussels.  A more plausible reason, not unlike the origins of the Thistle as the emblem of Scotland, is the legend of Clovis, King of the Franks in the sixth century, who was caught between the superior force of the Goths and the river Rhine. Observing that irises were growing a long way into the river, he realised that the water would be shallow enough to ford his way over. Clovis and his army therefore escaped and he adopted the flower as his emblem.

The reverse side of this Great Seal shows the equestrian figure of Edward III with what appears to be the first representation of the Crest of a sovereign, in the full sense of the word.

The Lion in the Crest is shown with an extended tail from Edward III to Edward IV. From Edward IV the tail curls over the Lion's back. However, more to the point, is the alignment of the Lion's face. As we saw in the previous Blog, the tomb of Edward III's eldest son, The Black Prince, still has the crested Helmet as he actually used it. Interestingly, the Lion looks straight ahead. It hardly seems conceivable that any prince would go into battle with the Lion in his Crest looking sideways. Maybe the convention of depicting the Lion as guardant was originally the artistic licence of the original seal engraver at a time when the rules of heraldry had not yet fully evolved.

The Chapeau which the Lion stands on was an early symbol of dignity and rank. It is related to the Cap which covered the Helmet before the development of Mantling and also represents the Cap of Maintenance which forms a part of the reglia carried before the sovereign at the Opening of Parliament and has historically been worn by a king to his Coronation before being crowned. This also developed into the lining of a closed Crown and Coronets.

There is no actual evidence that Edward III used Supporters, although a Lion guardant and a Falcon argent have been attributed.

Edward's other claim to fame is that he founded the Noble Order of the Garter in approximately 1384 as we saw in a previous Blog. He also vested his eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales (known as The Black Prince) with the first English Dukedom , creating him Duke of Cornwall, as we saw last week.

Philippa of Hainault (24th June 1310 (or 1315) – 15th August 1369) was the daughter of Willam, Count of Holland and Hainaut and French Princess Joan of Valois.
 
Philippa was engaged to Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1326. Their marriage was celebrated in York Minster on 24th January 1328, some months after Edward's accession to the throne of England as Edward III and Isabella of France's infamous invasion. After her husband reclaimed the throne, Philippa influenced King Edward to take interest in the nation's commercial expansion, was part of the successful Battle of Neville's Cross, and often went on expeditions to Scotland and France. She acted as regent in 1346, when her husband was away for the Hundred Years' War and won much popularity with the English people for her compassion the following year, when she successfully persuaded the King to spare the lives of the Burghers of Calais. This popularity helped maintain peace in England throughout their long reign.
 
Queen's College, Oxford was founded by her chaplain Robert de Eglesfield in her honour.
 
By all accounts, Philippa and Edward’s forty-year marriage was happy. They had thirteen children, including five sons who lived into adulthood. Three of their children died of the Black Death in 1348, though. The rivalry of their numerous descendants would, however, bring about the long-running and bloody dynastic Wars of the Roses in the next century.

Philippa used the Arms of her father. On her tomb she quarters these with the Royal Arms of her husband, but her father's Quarter appears to show four Lions rampant and alternately black and red. In fact, her father's Arms were quarterly Flanders (Or, a Lion rampant sable) and Holland (Or, a Lion rampant gules). There is just no visible dividing line between the Grand Quarters and the Field of both Arms is confusingly gold. Philippa's marital Shield of Arms is one of the most aesthetically pleasing I know for a queen consort, rvialled only by HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.

The first appearance of a Lion Rampant for Flanders is on a seal of Count Philip of Alsace, Count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191, and dating from 1163. As such it constitutes the oldest of the many territorial Arms bearing a Lion in the Low Countries. Still, Count Philip was not the first of his line to bear a Lion, for his cousin, William of Ypres, already used a seal with a lion passant in 1158, thought to derive from his maternal uncle, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou.

A red Lion on gold has been the Arms of Holland for many centuries and continues to be used in the Arms of both present day provinces of the Netherlands, North and South Holland. The colours of the Arms were reversed during the Dutch Republic.

Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, (29th November 1338 – 17th October 1368) was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of Edward and Philippa. He apparently grew to be nearly seven feet in height and had an athletic build.
 
Having been named as his father's representative in England in 1345 and again in 1346, Lionel joined an expedition into France in 1355, but his chief energies were reserved for the affairs of Ireland. He was named Earl of Ulster in 1347 as his first wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster was the daughter and heiress of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster. However, after holding a parliament at Kilkenny, which passed the celebrated Statute of Kilkenny in 1366, Lionel dropped the task in disgust and returned to England.

Lionel also received the title Clarence through his wife, who was also, through her grandmother, heir to the last Earl Gilbert of Clare. Lionel was made Duke of Clarence when he was 24.
 
After Elizabeth died in 1363, a second marriage was arranged with Violante Visconti, daughter of Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Pavia. Journeying to fetch his bride, Lionel was received in great state both in France and Italy and was married to Violante at Milan in June 1368. Some months were then spent in festivities, during which Lionel was taken ill at Alba, where he died on 17th October 1368. There was strong speculation at the time that he had been poisoned by his father-in-law, although this has never been proven.
 
Lionel had only one child, Philippa, daughter of his first wife Elizabeth. In 1368 Philippa married Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March. Their granddaughter and eventual heir, Anne Mortimer, married into the Yorkist branch of the English royal family and was the mother of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York. The House of York based its claim to the English Throne on descent through the female line from Lionel. In doing so, the Yorkists were able to present a senior claim over the Lancastrian branch, the descendants of a younger brother, John of Gaunt. (Edward III's first-born son, Edward the Black Prince, had no legitimate descendants past his two sons Edward of Angoulême and King Richard II.) Lionel was therefore the ancestor of Kings Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III and all later British monarchs except for Henry VII, whose wife Elizabeth of York was Lionel's descendant, being Edward V's sister.

Lionel received a Label of three Points for the son of a sovereign. This carried a red Canton (half an upper Quarter) on each Point in connection with the title of Duke of Clarence as Argent, a Canton Gules was a subsidiary Coat of Arms attributed to the Clare family. This symb ol hjas been used withing the British Royal Family a few times since, the last occasion being when Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (daughter of Queen Victoria) was assigned a red Rose between two red Cantons in 1858.

There is conjecture that Lionel had first received a Label of three St George's Crosses. But this remains conjecture as Lionel and Elizabeth were betrothed as children and married in 1352 and married when Lionel was 13 or 14.

Elizabeth is the person who brought the Arms Or, a Cross gules (de Burgh) to the Yorkist side of the family and also the Badge of the black Bull of Clarence, which remains a Royal Beast.
​

John of Gaunt (6th March 1340 – 3rd February 1399) was the third of the five sons of Edward and Philippa who survived to adulthood. Due to advantageous marriages and some generous land grants, Gaunt was one of the richest men of his era and was an influential figure during the reigns of both his father and his nephew, Richard II. As Duke of Lancaster, he was the founder of the royal House of Lancaster, whose members would ascend to the throne after his death. His surname, Gaunt, is an English corruption of his birthplace, Ghent. When John became unpopular later in life, a rumour circulated claiming that he was actually the son of a Ghent butcher. This rumour, which infuriated him, may have been inspired by the fact that Edward III had not been present at his birth.
 
John's early career was spent in France and Spain fighting in the Hundred Years' War. He made an abortive attempt to enforce a claim to the Crown of Castile that came through his second wife, and for a time styled himself King of Castile. As Edward the Black Prince, Gaunt's elder brother and heir to the ageing Edward III, became incapacitated due to poor health, Gaunt assumed control of many government functions, and rose to become one of the most powerful political figures in England. He was faced with military difficulties abroad and political divisions at home, and disagreements as to how to deal with these crises led to tensions between Gaunt, the English Parliament, and the ruling classes, making him an extremely unpopular figure.
 
John exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority of King Richard II and the ensuing periods of political strife. He mediated between the King and a group of rebellious nobles, which included Gaunt's own son and heir, Henry Bolingbroke. Following Gaunt's death in 1399, his estates and titles were declared forfeit to the Crown, and his son, now disinherited, was branded a traitor and exiled. Henry Bolingbroke returned from exile shortly after to reclaim his inheritance and deposed Richard. He reigned as King Henry IV, the first of the descendants of John of Gaunt to hold the English throne.
 
John of Gaunt has generally been regarded as an ancestor of all English monarchs beginning with his son Henry IV. His direct male line, the House of Lancaster, would rule England from 1399 until the time of the Wars of the Roses. Gaunt is also generally considered to have fathered five children outside marriage, many by Katherine Swynford, his long-term mistress and third wife. They received the surname Beaufort and were later legitimised by royal and papal decrees. This did not affect Henry IV's bar to their having a place in the line of succession, though. Through his daughter, Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, Gaunt was an ancestor of the Yorkist kings Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III. Through his great-granddaughter, Lady Margaret Beaufort, he was also an ancestor of Henry VII, who married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York, and all subsequent monarchs are descendants of their marriage.

In his infancy, John of Gaunt was created Earl of Richmond on the death of John, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond (grandson of King Henry III of England). Gaunt's Arms at this time carried a Label of three Points ermine, evidently taken from the Arms of Brittany. Although he relinquished the Earldom when he became Duke of Lancaster, there is evidence to suggest that Gaunt carried on using the ermine Label for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, his tomb in Old St Paul's cathedral is known to have shown his Label as being blue with three Fleurs-de-Lys on each Point. This comes from the Duchy of Lancaster, which came from his first wife, Blanche. She was a co- and then sole heiress of her father, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, the original owner of Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire and also a descendant of King Henry III and a co-founder Knight of the Order of the Garter. His Arms were England with a blue Label of three Points “of France”, namely three Fleurs-de-Lys on each Point. John is not known to have used this Label in his lifetime.

For a while, Gaunt claimed the Throne of Castile and Leon through his second wife, Constance, who was the elder daughter of King Peter of Castile, who was deposed and killed. Although Castile lacked men and money to fight and lacked enthusiasm for a Lancastrian intruder, the rivals came to terms. John of Gaunt resigned his claim and married his only daughter by Constance, Catherine, to Henry III, grandson of Henry II of Castile who had taken her grandfather Peter's Throne. Henry and Catherine were the great-grandparents of Catherine of Aragon.
​

Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (5th June 1341 – 1st August 1402) was the fourth surviving son of King Edward and Philippa. Like many medieval English princes, Edmund gained the then equivalent to his surname from his birthplace: Kings Langley Palace in Hertfordshire. He was the founder of the House of York, but it was through the marriage of his younger son, Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge to Anne de Mortimer, great-granddaughter of Edmund's elder brother Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, that the House of York made its claim to the English throne in the Wars of the Roses.

On the death of his godfather, the Earl of Surrey, Edmund was granted the Earl's lands north of the Trent, primarily in Yorkshire. In 1359, he joined his father King Edward III on an unsuccessful military expedition to France. Edmund was made a knight of the Garter in 1361 and, the following year, at the age of twenty-one, he was created Earl of Cambridge by his father. Edmund was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports on 12th June 1376 and held office until 1381. On 6th August 1385, he was elevated to Duke of York.

He supported his elder brother, John of Gaunt, in his unsuccessful attempt at gaining the Throne of Castile and Leon. After largely supporting his weak nephew King Richard II as Keeper of the Realm whilst Richard was abroad and with the belief that the childless Richard would name his son, Edward, as his successor, Edmund decided to change allegiance to John's son, Henry of Bolingbroke who became King Henry IV.

Langley's first wife, Isabella, was a daughter of King Peter of Castile and María de Padilla. She was also the sister of the Infanta Constance of Castile, the second wife of Langley's brother John of Gaunt. Langley and Isabella were both descendants of Henry II of England. After Isabella's death in 1392, Langley married his second cousin once removed Joan Holland, whose great-grandfather Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, was the half-brother of Langley's grandfather Edward II; she and Langley were thus both descended from King Edward I. The young Joan was the granddaughter of his late sister-in-law Joan of Kent. The marriage produced no children.

Edmund of Langley died in his birthplace and was interred at King's Langley Priory; however, his tomb was relocated to the nearby All Saints' Church, Kings Langley in 1575 after the priory had been dissolved. When the tomb was moved again during church restoration work in 1877, three bodies, one male and two female, were found inside. His dukedom passed to his eldest son, Edward. He was the last of his siblings to die and lived the longest out of all of them.

His Tomb, shown above, shows a number of Shields, but, unfortunately, they have worn over time, so the individual Labels are now unrecognisable. It does, however, show one thing which maybe just be artistic license or the way Labels started. They are shown in line with the very top of the Shield, whereas mostly ever since, they have been placed a little way down from the top.

Edmund's personal Label was of three Points, each charged with three red discs called Torteaux. The name is derived from the French for tart or cake, and there appears to be no theory as to why Edmund should have received this on his Label.
​

Edward Plantagenet or Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, (c. 1373 – 25th October 1415) the eldest son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York. He held significant appointments during the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV (even though he plotted against him at one stage), and Henry V, and is also known for his translation of the hunting treatise The Master of Game. He was killed at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

Edward held various titles:

• Earl of Rutland (25th February 1390 – 1st August 1402)
• Earl of Cork (c. 1395)
• Duke of Albemarle (29th September 1397 – 3rd November 1399). He had this title taken away from him as a result of the admitting to the aborted plot to assassinate King Henry IV.
• Duke of York (1st August 1402 – 25th October 1415). He inherited this and the following titles on the death of his father.
• Earl of Cambridge (1st August 1402 – c. 1414)

The above Shield on the left, with a Label parted Castile and Leon, is purported to be Edward's Arms as Earl of Rutland. He would certainly have received this Label based on the Arms of his mother, Isabella of Castile and Leon, in much the same way that Princes William and Harry and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have recently been granted Labels with elements based on the Arms of their respective mothers. However, The Royal Heraldry of England by J. H. & R. V. Pinches, 1974, says that Edward's first Coat of Arms was as Lord High Admiral and Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1391 and that of King Richard II, i.e. the attributed Arms of Edward the Confessor marshalled with France and England quarterly, with his father's York Label on top. The book furthermore cites a red three-pointed Label, each Point charged with three gold Castles for 1397 when Edward was created Duke of Albermarle.

Either way, Edward inherits his father's Label with three Torteaux per Point on his father's death in 1402. Edward's seal as 2nd Duke of York, attached to a charter of 1403, is agreed to be the earliest known instance of the change from France ancient to France modern.
​

Richard of Coningsbrough, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (20th July 1385 – 5th August 1415) was the second son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and Isabella of Castile.

He had two claims to fame: Having been created Earl of Cambridge in 1414, he was beheaded for his part in the Southampton Plot, a conspiracy against King Henry V the following year. The other, and possibly linked, is that he married Anne (de) Mortimer, sister and afterwards heiress to Edmund, Earl of March, and therefore through the female line to Lionel, Duke of Clarence and therefore an older son of King Edward III. The expectations of both Yorkist brothers, Edward and Richard, the expectations of Richard's son, also called Richard and who had the Yorkist Dukedom restored under King Henry VI, preference for this capable and honourable 3rd Duke of York over the weak King Henry VI in the hands of advisors and the rivalry with the Lancastrian line - considered usurpers - ultimately leads to the Wars of the Roses.

Richard's Arms were the York Arms with a Bordure charged with purple Lions. These obviously allude to the Leon Quarter of his mother's Arms. The Bordure is variously shown with eight, nine, ten or even twelve Lions, but the precise amount of Lions would not have been important at this stage of Heraldry.

The Mortimer Arms were once more brought into the Royal Family through Anne. Her marriage to Richard was undertaken secretly and probably with haste, without the knowledge of her nearest relatives, and was validated on 23 May 1408 by papal dispensation. She died in 1411. Her surviving son, the 3rd Duke of York, was the father of both King Edward IV and King Richard III.

Richard also married Matilda (or Maud), daughter of Thomas, 6th Baron Clifford, but they had no children.

Richard, 3rd Duke of York (21st September 1411 – 30th December 1460) was a descendant of King Edward III through both his father and mother. He inherited the prestigious title of Duke of York from his childless uncle and was considered the richest man in England. 

As a descendant of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, York considered he had a claim to the Throne that was stronger, even though it was through the female line, than that of Henry VI (who became king in 1422), who was descended from Edward’s fourth son. Nevertheless, York served Henry faithfully as governor of France and Normandy from 1436 to 1437 and 1440 to 1445. At the same time, he became an opponent of the powerful Beaufort family, which was gaining control of Henry’s government.

The death of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in 1447 left York nearer in the line for succession to the Throne, but the Beauforts had him sent—virtually banished—to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant. He returned to England in 1450 and led the opposition to Henry’s new chief minister, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset.

When the King suffered a nervous breakdown in July 1453, Henry's ambitious Queen, Margaret of Anjou, backed by Somerset, claimed the regency, but her rule was so unpopular that Parliament appointed York Protector of the Realm in March 1454. York was hated and feared by Margaret because he was a potential rival to the Throne she hoped to obtain for her son, then an infant. Consequently, upon Henry’s recovery, in December 1454, Margaret persuaded him to dismiss York and restore Somerset to power. York immediately took up arms. At St. Albans, Hertfordshire, on 22nd May 1455, his forces killed Somerset in battle, and he had control of the government until Margaret again gained the upper hand in October 1456.

Hostilities between the two sides reopened late in 1459 and in July 1460 York’s able lieutenant Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, defeated the Lancastrians at Northampton and captured the King. A compromise was then worked out whereby Henry would remain king for life and York was to succeed him. But Margaret, who would never agree to the disinheritance of her son, raised a rebellion in northern England. York’s attempt to deal with her resulted in his death when he was attacked by the Lancastrians outside his castle near Wakefield. His son Edward seized power the following year as Edward IV.
​

Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (7th January 1355 – 8th or 9th September 1397) was the fifth surviving son and youngest child of King Edward III and Philippa.

Thomas married Eleanor de Bohun in 1374, was given Pleshey Castle in Essex, and was appointed Constable of the Realm, a position previously held by the Bohuns. The younger sister of Woodstock's wife, Mary de Bohun, was subsequently married to Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, who later became King Henry IV of England.
 
In 1377, at the age of 22, Woodstock was knighted and created Earl of Buckingham. On 22nd June 1380 he became Earl of Essex in right of his wife. In 1385, he received the title Duke of Aumale, and at about the same time was created Duke of Gloucester.

Thomas placed himself at the head of the party that was opposed to the advisers of King Richard II. known as the Lords Appellant. He was joined by Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel and of Surrey; and Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. These were later joined by Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby (the future king Henry IV) and Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham. Richard II quickly regained control and eventually, in 1397, managed to dispose of the group. By 1396, Thomas and Richard were again at odds over policy. Thomas was arrested at his home by the King himself and was imprisoned in Calais to await trial for treason. During that time, he was murdered, probably by a group of men led by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, and the knight Sir Nicholas Colfox, presumably on behalf of Richard II; Parliament declared him guilty of treason and his estates forfeited.

Thomas was buried in Westminster Abbey, first in the Chapel of Saint Edmund and Saint Thomas in October 1397, and two years later reburied in the Chapel of Saint Edward the Confessor. His wife was buried next to him.

As he was attainted as a traitor, his dukedom of Gloucester was forfeit. The title Earl of Buckingham was inherited by his son, Humphrey, who died only two years after his father’s own death and left no heir. Humphrey's Arms were the same as his father's. Thomas of Woodstock's eldest daughter, Anne, married into the powerful Stafford family, who were Earls of Stafford. After her death in 1438, her son, Humphrey Stafford, was created Duke of Buckingham (as well as the other titles his mother inherited as co-heiress of his uncle) in 1444 and also inherited part of the de Bohun estates.

As can be seen in the photograph above, the Order of the Seraphim was indeed conferred on Prince Julian of Sweden, Duke of Halland, youngest son of TRH Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, Duke and Duchess of Värmland at his christening on Saturday.

He is also a Knight of the Order of Carl XIII.

It is not clear whether Julian has the Chain to the Order of the Seraphim but the entry for his christening on the Swedish Royal family's website is shown under his parents' joint monogram rather than one for himself. Carl Philip and Sofia's other sons as well as the children of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill appear to have had their monograms removed from the website, presumably because they no longer belong to the Royal House but the Royal Family.

We will presumably now not see another prince or princess of the Royal House until HRH Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland begins a family. And we will see what happens with titles in the next generation when Carl Philip and Madeleine's children begin their families. Will they adopt a system similar to the United Kingdom where the great-grandchildren of a monarch become commoners?

Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15th June 1330 – 8th June 1376) was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. Edward is renowned as one of the most successful English commanders during the Hundred Years’ War against France, and one of the greatest knights of the age. Although he was heir to the English Throne, Edward never became king; he died before his father and so his son, Richard II, succeeded to the Throne instead

Edward was made Earl of Chester in 1333, Duke of Cornwall in 1337 (the first Dukedom in England when the estate was created out of the former Earldom) and Prince of Wales in 1343. An Act of Parliament of 1337 decreed that the eldest son and Heir Apparent to the King of England was Duke of Cornwall by birth or automatically on the accession of his parent, but Prince of Wales by special creation and investiture. Edward III had never been created Prince of Wales and thes acts and charters confirmed these titles. Furthermore, after Edward predeceased his father, the Duchy was recreated for his son, the future Richard II. Under a charter of 1421, the Duchy passes to the sovereign's eldest son.

As such, Prince Edward's Arms were those of his father with a plain white three-pointed Label. If he had used Arms up to the age of ten when his father started quartering the French Arms, he is likely to have shown England with a plain blue Label.

Edward was also the first Knight of the Garter. This gave rise to the tradition that the Order accompanies the title Prince of Wales unless the next incumbent has already been appointed to the Order.

The exact reason for the sinister-sounding nickname of The Black Prince and his reputation is still debated by historians. There are several theories from the colour his armour, the colour of his Shield or Surcoat to his attitude. However, there is no evidence that he was called by this nickname during his lifetime and it may have come about during the Tudor period.

The Black Prince's 'Shield of Peace' (the Arms he used for fighting jousts at tournaments) is of special significance as it gave rise to the distinctive three Ostrich Feather Badge of the Heir to the English then British Throne, more often than not called by the technically incorrect name The Prince of Wales's Feathers.

Legend has it that he adopted the Shield after the Battle of Crecy. The old blind King John of Bohemia fought on the French side and had two of his household knights tie their horses to either side of his own so that he could “strike a blow against the English.” After the Battle, the old kings’ body was found among the dead and Edward was so moved that he adopted the king’s Arms of three Ostrich Feathers on a black Field, with the motto “Ich Dien” (I serve in German). However, whilst at least 36 Silesian families show a plume of three feathers, John's Seal shows an Eagle and a Lion rampant.

It is more likely that the Black Prince adopted the Feathers from a device from his mother, Philippa of Hainault. Oestrevans was a subsidiary title of the Counts of Hainault, although the Ostrich was a known Badge of the Counts of Luxembourg, from whom Philippa was descended. Whilst the Ostrich Feather was frequently used by a great many descendants of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, the distinctive Badge was only first used by Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of King Henry VII.

Joan, Countess of Kent (29th September 1326/7 – 7th August 1385) was known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent. Edward the Black Prince was her third husband. Although the French chronicler Jean Froissart called her "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving", the appellation "Fair Maid of Kent", again, does not appear to be contemporary. Joan inherited the titles 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell after the death of her brother John, 3rd Earl of Kent, in 1352.
 
Joan was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (1301-1330) the sixth son of King Edward I of England by his second wife, Margaret of France, and therefore a cousin of Edward’s. Edmund supported his elder brother King Edward II and was executed after Edward was deposed. When Edward III reached adulthood, he brought Joan’s family out of exile and looked after them well.
 
Joan’s first marriage to Thomas Holland of Up Holland, Lancashire was either secret or invalid. When it came to her family wanting to arrange for her to marry the heir of Earl of Salisbury, there were difficulties. When Holland returned from the French campaigns in about 1348, his marriage to Joan was revealed. Holland confessed to the King and appealed to the Pope for the return of his wife. Salisbury held Joan, whom he thought to be his daughter-in-law, captive so that she could not testify until the Church ordered him to release her. In 1349, the proceedings ruled in Holland's favour. Pope Clement VI annulled Joan's marriage to Salisbury and Joan and Thomas Holland were ordered to be married in Church. Holland was created Earl of Kent in right of his wife in 1360 but he died the same year.
 
It is suggested that Edward's parents did not favour a marriage between their son and their former ward, but this may be contradicted by the fact that King Edward assisted his son in acquiring all four of the needed dispensations for Edward to marry Joan. Among the problems was Edward and Joan's birth placement within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. Queen Philippa (wife of Edward III) had made a favourite of Joan in her childhood. Both she and the King may have been concerned about the legitimacy of any resulting children, considering Joan's complicated marital record, but such concerns were remedied by a second ruling of Pope Clement's successor Innocent VI.
 
In 1362, the Black Prince was invested as Prince of Aquitaine, a region of France that had belonged to the English Crown since the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II of England in 1152. He and Joan moved to Bordeaux, the capital of the principality, where they spent the next nine years. Two sons were born during this period to the royal couple. The elder son, Edward of Angoulême (1365-1370), died at the age of five. The second son was the future King Richard II.
 
By 1371, the Black Prince was no longer able to perform his duties as Prince of Aquitaine due to poor health, thus he and Joan returned to England shortly after burying their elder son. The following year, the Black Prince forced himself to attempt one final, abortive campaign in the hope of saving his father's French possessions, but the exertion completely shattered his health. He returned to England for the last time on 7th June 1376, a week before his forty-sixth birthday, and died in his bed at the Palace of Westminster the next day.
 
Joan's son Prince Richard was now next in line to succeed his grandfather Edward III, who died on 21st June 1377. Richard was crowned the following month at the age of 10.
 
Joan died at Wallingford Castle during a quarrel between John Holland, her son from her first marriage, and the young King, who then pardoned Holland. Joan was buried beside her first husband, as requested in her will, even though the Black Prince had had a chantry chapel built for her in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral with ceiling bosses sculpted with likenesses of her face.
 
Joan’s Coat of Arms was that of her father, who, as a Prince himself, bore England with a plain white Bordure for difference.

​During Richard's first years as king, government was in the hands of a series of regency councils, influenced by Richard's uncles John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock. England then faced various problems, most notably the Hundred Years' War and the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The young King played a central part in the successful suppression of the Revolt. Less warlike than either his father or grandfather, he sought to bring an end to the Hundred Years' War. A firm believer in the royal prerogative, Richard restrained the power of the aristocracy and relied on a private retinue for military protection instead. In contrast to his grandfather, Richard cultivated a refined atmosphere centred on art and culture at court, in which the king was an elevated figure.
 
The king's dependence on a small number of courtiers caused discontent among the influential, and in 1387 control of government was taken over by a group of aristocrats known as the Lords Appellant. By 1389 Richard had regained control, and for the next eight years governed in relative harmony with his former opponents. In 1397, he took his revenge on the Appellants, however, many of whom were executed or exiled. The next two years have been described by historians as Richard's "tyranny". In 1399, after John of Gaunt died, the king disinherited Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke, who had previously been exiled. Henry invaded England with a small force that quickly grew in numbers. Meeting little resistance, he deposed Richard and had himself crowned king. Richard is thought to have been starved to death in captivity, although questions remain regarding his final fate.
 
Richard's posthumous reputation has been shaped to a large extent by William Shakespeare, whose play about him portrayed Richard's misrule and his deposition as responsible for the 15th-century Wars of the Roses. Modern historians do not accept this interpretation, while not exonerating Richard from responsibility for his own deposition. While probably not insane, as many historians of the 19th and 20th centuries believed, he may have had a personality disorder, particularly manifesting itself towards the end of his reign. Most authorities agree that his policies were not unrealistic or even entirely unprecedented, but that the way in which he carried them out was unacceptable to the political establishment, leading to his downfall.

​Anne of Bohemia (11th May 1366 – 7th June 1394) was the eldest daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia, and Elizabeth of Pomerania.
 
Her marriage to Richard is largely seen as as a result of the Western Schism (1378-1417) in the Papacy that had resulted in two rival popes. According to Eduard Perroy, Pope Urban VI sanctioned the marriage between Richard and Anne in an attempt to create an alliance on his behalf, particularly so that he might be stronger against the French and their preferred pope, Clement.
 
Anne and Richard were only 15 years old when they first met and married, yet they soon fell into a loving relationship. Although Anne was originally disliked, there is some evidence that she became more popular in time. She was a very kind person and popular with the people of England. She was especially good at calming her husband during his mental health issues. This is supported somewhat by Richard’s unwise conduct in the years after Anne's death that lost him his throne.
 
They were married for 12 years, but had no children. Anne's death from plague in 1394 at Sheen Manor was a devastating blow to Richard. He was so grief-stricken that he demolished Sheen Manor, where she had died.

Anne's Coat of Arms shows the black Eagle on gold for the Holy Roman Empire quartered with the crowned white Lion of Bohemia/Luxembourg. Although a member of the House of Luxembourg on his paternal side, Anne's father Charles IV emphasised his maternal side due to a lifelong affinity for Bohemia, and also because his direct ancestors in the Přemyslid line included two saints. However, especially with later practise in consideration, it seems unusual for Anne to quarter the Holy Roman Eagle at all. Having said that, it does provide for a pleasing Achievement.

Isabella of France (9th November 1389 – 13th September 1409) was the daughter of Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. On 31st October 1396, at the age of six, she married the widower Richard in a move for peace with France. Her age was discussed during the negotiations, but Richard replied that each day would rectify that problem, that it was an advantage as he would then be able to shape her in accordance with his ideal, and that he was young enough to wait for her.
 
After the wedding, Queen Isabella followed Richard to England, where she was placed in Windsor Castle with her own court under the supervision of her appointed governess and chief lady-in-waiting. She was formally crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey the following year.
 
Although the union was political and an arranged marriage, Richard II and the child Isabella developed a mutually respectful relationship. By May 1399, however, the Queen had been moved to Portchester Castle for protection while Richard went on a military campaign in Ireland. When Richard was deposed and ultimately died, she was ordered by the new King Henry IV to move to the Bishop of Salisbury's Thames-side Sonning Palace under formal house arrest.
 
The French court requested that Isabella return to France and Henry IV tried to use her as pawn and marry her off to his son, the future King Henry V. On 29th June 1406, aged 16, she was married to her cousin, Charles, Duke of Orléans, who was 11. She died in childbirth at the age of 19.

As Queen, Isabella's Arms were curiously those of St Edward the Confessor, King Richard II and King Charles VI of France. Her father is believed to have reduced the amount of Fleurs-de-Lys in the French Arms shortly after Isabella's marriage to Richard, but there is no evidence to confirm that Isabella did likewise.