As I will be on holiday in Austria, I will leave you with the superb representations of the Coats of Arms of Their Imperial and Royal Majesties The Emperor Franz Josef I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. This more for your enjoyment than for heraldic research purposes. These are such beautiful renditions of heraldic art and so typical of the period at the end of the 19th Century.
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Kensington Palace are issuing press releases which reveal the newly-wedded Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Royal Cyphers.
Whilst Prince Harry's has been known for many years now, Meghan's individual monogram conforms to the same design with a Coronet of her rank as the wife of a child of the Heir Apparent and her initial is in the same font as her husband's (and, coincidentally, the same as TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge). The novelty is their combined Cypher. Taking advantage of the fact the the letters H and M are very similar, their combined monogram marries the two initials into one, simple, symbiotic whole which is very pleasing to the eye. Whilst not exactly heraldry, I thought I would include this snippet as I have shown the Scandinavian Royal Cyphers previously. An interesting Summer diversion... Having covered the Monarchies of Europe, we now turn to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Swapping between France (Kingdoms, Republics and Napoleonic Empire) and the Habsburgs of Austria, Luxembourg became a powerful fortress and strategically important. The state emerged after the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna under the personal possession of the King of The Netherlands and was split into a Belgian province and the Luxembourgish-speaking Grand Duchy in 1839. The next episode happened in 1890 when King William III of The Netherlands died. His daughter Wilhelmina inherited the Throne of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, however, Luxembourg was governed by the Naussau Family Pact of 1783 which only allowed a woman to inherit if there were no male heirs at all. Therefore, Adolphe, the dispossessed Duke of Nassau and head of the branch of Nassau-Weilburg, became Grand Duke. His son, William IV, obtained permission for his daughter, Marie-Adélaïde, to succeed. She was, in turn, followed by her sister Charlotte. Grand Duchess Charlotte is the Grandmother of the Grand Duchy - both literally and metaphorically. Not only did she see her country through the aftermath of one world war and the mess her sister had left things in and the Second World War, but she was matriarch to a now thriving dynasty. She abdicated in favour of her son, Jean, in 1964, who in in turn abdicated in favour of his son, Henri, in the year 2000. The basic Coat of Arms of Luxembourg consist of a Field of 10 stripes alternating white and blue with a crowned, double-tailed red Lion on top. These, as shown at the beginning in the photograph of the gates to the Royal Palace in the City of Luxembourg, are displayed on their own. On his personal Coat of Arms, the Grand Duke quarters these Arms with those of Nassau (namely a crowned golden lion on a blue background strewn with gold billets, which are the basis of the Coat of Arms of The Netherlands - see previous Blog). On top is an Inescutcheon of, effectively, the dynastic Coat of Arms. These are France Modern - Blue with three yellow Fleurs-de-Lys - surrounded by a red Border carrying 8 white Scallop Shells for Bourbon Parma. Grand Duchess Charlotte had married Prince Felix of Bourbon Parma (a brother of Empress Zita of Austria). He never renounced his title even though he became a Prince of Luxembourg by Grand Ducal Decree and so his descendants now enjoy the title Royal Highness, not just the Grand Ducal Sovereign and Heir Apparent. The Coats of Arms of Luxembourg are regulated by Grand Ducal Decree, the last of which for the Grand Duke were in 2001, following Henri taking over the reins from his father. You will notice that the Grand Duke (as well as the nation) has three versions of his Coat of Arms: Greater (fixed by Grand Ducal Decree on 23rd June 2001), Middle and Lesser (fixed by Grand Ducal Decree on 23rd February 2001). Greater This shows the full Achievement, including Shield, Crown, Ribbon and Cross of the Order of the Oaken Crown, Supporters, Flags, Pavillion and another Crown on top. (The Grand Duke is the only one to show his Supporters carrying Flags.) Middle These simply show the Shield, Supporters and Crown. Lesser These simply show the Shield and the Crown. Please also note that the Middle and Lesser versions do not show the dynastic Inescutcheon of Bourbon Parma for the Grand Duke. It interesting to note that the Quarterings for Luxembourg and the Nassau dynasty were swapped over so that, logically, Luxembourg comes first. Also, please note carefully that the main Supporter to the dexter (heraldic left) has a forked tail as in the Luxembourg Arms and that the Supporter to the sinister (heraldic right) only has the one simple tail as in the Nassau Arms... The use of the three versions appears to be arbitrary. (As we will find out shortly, the Hereditary Grand Duke has two.) In 1981 Henri (then Hereditary Grand Duke and his father's heir) married Cuban María Teresa Mestre y Batista. Her Royal Highness does not have a personal Coat of Arms but, as can be seen in the bottom right of the photograph above shows the Arms of Luxembourg and Nassau, her husband's Lesser Arms, on an oval Shield and ensigned with a Royal Crown. This follows the pattern of, say, HM Queen Sonia of Norway, whose Stall Plate is to the left of María Teresa's. Strangely enough, the photograph also shows Henri's Coat of Arms as Hereditary Grand Duke and heir with the Quarters in their original positions with Nassau before Luxembourg.
As can be seen above, HRH Grand Duke Jean, Henri's father who abdicated in 2000, has his quarterings the other way round, as was the case from 1898 as the family Arms (Nassau) took precedence. Grand Duke Jean, who is approaching his Centenary, was trained at Sandhurst whilst the Luxembourg Royal Family was in exile during the Second World War and was often seen at The Queen's Birthday Parade (or Trooping of the Colour) in British Guard's uniform. In 1953 he married HRH Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium, daughter of King Leopold III. At first sight rather a strict-looking woman, Jojo, as she was known, was a great teller of family stories, although she was allegedly blessed with foresight having predicted her Mother's tragic and fatal car accident. An excellent document from 2006, issued by the Luxembourg Government and written by René Klein, can be seen here. It charts the progress of Royal Heraldry in Luxembourg. It confirms two Coats of Arms for Grand Duke Jean, both rather peculiar and certainly highly personal. In 1939 he was granted quarterly Bourbon Parma (his father's Coat of Arms) and Nassau (his mother's family) with Luxembourg in pretence on an Inescutcheon. This was to celebrate both the Centenary of the Independence of Luxembourg and Jean reaching his majority on his 18th Birthday. All well and good. Then in 1953, on the occasion of his marriage to Josephine, Jean was granted Nassau, still in pretence on the dexter but facing (or contourné) to Luxembourg on the sinister. An Inescutcheon of Bourbon Parma is shown but hardly in pretence as it is at the base of the Shield! Very strange... This, however, only lasted until 1964 when Grand Duchess Charlotte abdicated (or, rather, retired) in Jean's favour.
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J. Paul MurdockAll things Royal and Heraldic from the UK and Europe. Starting off with the younger generations and heading back. Mainly sticking to the descendants of Queen Victoria, but throwing in the odd other royal now and again... Archives
June 2020
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