HM Queen Victoria was the last Monarch of the House of Hanover. In marrying HSH Prince Albert in 1840, she established what would be the short-lived House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha which came into existence on her death in January 1901 and the ascension to the Throne of her eldest son, Albert Edward, who took on the title HM King Edward VII. When in turn he died in 1910, his eldest son became HM King George V. The change of name, of course, came during World War I and because of the anti-German sentiments within the UK at the time. Basically, although related by blood, it wasn't good for the British Royal Family to have a name in the language of the enemy.
A number of suggestions were made, such as Tudor-Stuart. But rumour has it that George's private secretary Lord Stamfordham was inspired by his workplace, Windsor Castle, to suggest the very English name.
A number of other things also happened in 1917:
- Members of the British Royal family now had a surname - Windsor. This concept was carried over to members of the extended Royal Family who had either married or had received titles and would now need a surname because of the next two steps. Other German names were aglicised, such as Battenberg to Mountbatten.
- All German titles were to be dropped. This included the extended royal family who were expected to take on British titles.
- Princely titles were restricted and streamlined. This resulted in anomalies such as Alastair of Connaught who was mentioned in a previous blog.
Heraldically, the major change was the dropping of the dynastic Inescutscheon for Saxony - the black and yellow striped shield with the green Bend in the form of a coronet called a 'crown in rue' - rue being a leafy herb. This, however, was only for the 'personal' arms of princes and princesses who had been dukes and duchesses of Saxony. The Royal Coat of Arms of the Sovereign, and thereby the country, remained the same, plain United Kingdom with no Inescutcheon. Queen Victoria hadn't inherited the Throne of Hanover due to Salic Law there and, outranking him as Monarch in her own right, did not take on the titles of her husband, Prince Albert.
The three pointed label was assigned to George after his elder brother HRH Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, died of pneumonia in 1892. Grandchildren of a monarch are granted a five pointed Label except for the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. Albert Victor had been assigned the traditional three pointed Label with a St. George's Cross and whilst George may have taken over his elder brother's fiancée, he couldn't be assigned his Label. Being, up till then, a career sailor, he was assigned a blue Anchor. This became the traditional Label for a second son for 2 more generations and has equally accompanied the title of Duke of York in that time.
Although there doesn't appear to be any written proof that George was assigned a Label before then, there is a stained-glass window in St George's Chapel, Windsor with the Arms for Albert Victor mentioned above and for George which show the traditional five-pointed Label with a blue Anchor already. Unfortunately, I can find no photographic evidence to support this and photography is not allowed in the Chapel. However, as soon as you step into the Chapel, if you look up to the left of the transept in front of you, you should see the window and Arms.
From 1901 to 1910, George was HRH The Prince of Wales whilst his father, HM King Edward VII, reigned. During this time, George carried the traditional Arms of the Heir to the Throne, i.e. a plain white Label with three points plus all the badges representing Wales and the Duchy of Cornwall.
Strangely enough, Mary Adelaide was never assigned her own Coat of Arms. Neither was Queen Victoria although she ascended the Throne not long after gaining her majority at 18. That generation seems to have been largely forgotten heraldically; even the grandsons of George III, let alone the granddaughters, seem to miss out with a mismatch of compromises and ill-defined, almost made-up Arms.
For Supporters, Queen Mary had her husband's crowned Lion to the left and her father's stag (proper, i.e. in natural colours) to the right. We will see a change in policy for spouses' Supporters in the generation of George and Mary's children, which has now been changed again with the generations of Elizabeth II's children and grandchildren.
The Shield is encircled by the Garter, which HM King George V granted to his Consort shortly after his accession in 1910. His Father, HM King Edward VII, had set a modern precedent in doing the same for HM Queen Alexandra, harking back to medieval times.
Reverting to HRH The Prince Edward as soon as he gave his assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act and then receiving the title of Duke of Windsor, the subject of his Coat of Arms must have come up. As a former monarch it seems sensible that his Label should be differenced with an Imperial Crown. As his brother, the new King George VI, said at his Accession Council at the Court of St. James on 12th December 1936, "I meet you today in circumstances which are without parallel in the history of our Country." [www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34350/page/8115] Then title and Label were granted and assigned in February 1937.
The other Coat of Arms is for George's Consort, now named simply HM Queen Elizabeth, but probably for ever known as The Queen Mother, or even Queen Mum. Elizabeth was the first dowager queen to actively use the title when her daughter succeeded to the Throne as HM Queen Elizabeth II herself. Most previous dowager queens had simply carried on being called Queen Mary or Queen Alexandra. This was simply to tell the difference between mother and daughter as they had the same name.
This Coat of Arms must rank as an heraldist's delight. The perfect example of an aesthetically pleasing marshalled achievement. They show her husband's Coat of Arms as Sovereign side by side with her father the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne's Coat of Arms. The beauty comes from her famous maiden name of Bowes-Lyon. So, to balance the Quarterings from the Sovereign's achievement you have the bows on ermine (Bowes) and blue Lions within a Double Tressure (or thin border lines) (Lyon). Although in different colours (Blue on White/Silver/Argent instead of Red on Yellow/Gold/Or) there is a certain symmetry in the alliteration and, of course, a certain satisfaction in the humour of the pun (Bows - Bowes and Lion - Lyon). This is emphasised even more in Her Majesty's Standard below and reaches a peak in the Scottish version which, although suitable for The Queen Mother's Scottish heritage, may unfortunately be fanciful.
The Earl's Coat of Arms also shows a rarity - an Augmentation. This is an addition to a Coat of Arms in honour of services rendered or, as in this case, on the occasion of a member of the family marrying into the Royal Family. And in this case it is a Inescutcheon at the centre of the Coat of Arms. This apporpriately, is in the form of a white Rose of York, crowned, at the centre of a blue Field and surrounded by a white Double Tressure as in the Scottish Royal Coat of Arms.
Augmentations can be Cantons in the corner or Chiefs across the top.
Curiously, although the Arms already carry an Earl's Coronet above the main Shield, the Augmented Inescutcheon carries another Earl's Coronet.
In 1935, Prince Henry married Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch, another Scottish peer, who unfortunately died of cancer just over a fortnight before the wedding. She therefore marshalled her father's elaborate, if cluttered, Coat of Arms with those of her husband. You will notice on the Buccleuch side of the Shield that the Royal Coat of Arms of the House of Stuart is carried with a white Baton Sinister. This indicates that the Dukes of Buccleuch are descended from HM King Charles II by his illegitimate son and pretender to the Throne, James Scott 1st Duke of Monmouth, whose mother was Lucy Walter. The Crescents and Star on a blue Bend (stripe) and a yellow background are for Monmouth's wife, Anne Scott, whose name he took having previously been called FitzRoy (dervived from the Latin for 'Son of the King'). Anne was made Duchess of Buccleuch in her own right, being the heiress of the last Earl of Buccleuch. The Dukedom of Monmouth was forfeited on James Scott's execution for rebellion, but all the rest of the titles were inherited by his grandson Francis.
Beside Henry and Alice's Coats of Arms is that of their eldest son HRH Prince William of Gloucester. On his 21st birthday in 1962 he was assigned, as a grandchild of a sovereign, a five pointed Label carrying on the theme of his father's Label of red Lions and St George's Crosses. William tragically died at an early age in 1972, in a plane crash near to Halfpenny Green Airport, Bobbington, Wolverhampton where he was racing not far from where this author lives. He therefore didn't inherit his father's Dukedom.
Although not the first chronologically, William is the first prince we meet born into the second generation, as a grandchild of the Sovereign, since the streamlining of the House of Windsor in 1917. This deemed that the rank of prince or princess and the style His or Her Royal Highness was extended only to the grandchildren of a sovereign in the male line. The children were to be designated The Prince or The Princess and grandchildren simply Prince or Princess. After that the children of the next generation were to be treated as children of non-royal dukes and so on.
Strangely, the now technically Dowager Duchess of Gloucester requested from The Queen that she be called HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester instead. Even though not a princess in her own right, born of the royal blood, Her Majesty granted her aunt her wish. It is thought that she wanted to mirror her late sister-in-law the Duchess of Kent who had been HRH Princess Marina as she had come from the Greek Royal Family.
Richard's Label is, in effect, the reverse of his brother William's with three St George's Crosses and two red Lions and was also granted in 1962.
You may also have noticed that the Coronets have changed from the Crosses and Fleurs-de-Lys of the children of sovereigns to the Crosses and Strawberry Leaves of the grandchildren.
Next to Richard's Coat of Arms is the Achievement of his wife HRH Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester. This is unique in the Royal Family (so far). Usually the bride of a royal prince is from an armigerous family, such as a lord, or her father is granted arms, as with HRH Katherine, Duchess of Cambridge, in time for the wedding which she then uses in the same way and marshals them with her husband's royal arms. The Duchess of Gloucester is slightly different in that she places an Inescutcheon of her own arms 'in pretence' on top of her husband's. When Richard and Birgitte (née Henriksen and formerly van Deurs) married, she was granted her own Coat of Arms as her parents had divorced and the family was estranged from her father. Also, as a Danish citizen, Birgitte's father would not have been entitled to a Grant from the English College of Arms. Her children, Alexander, Earl of Ulster, Lady Davina Lewis and Lady Rose Gilman are therefore entitled to quarter both their parents' Coats of Arms. The College of Arms has confirmed, though, that Alexander, Davina and Rose have not applied for a matriculation of their Arms.
The Arms show a Lapwing and crossed Ostrich Feathers.
George married Marina at Westminster Abbey on 29th November 1934. There have been numerous rumours about George but his marriage was certainly a happy one until it and George's life were cut short in a plane accident during the War which still remains a bit of a mystery.
Marina, as a princess in her own right, being the youngest daughter of the then quaintly named TRH Prince and Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark. She therefore simply marshalled her paternal (undifferenced) Coat of Arms with those of her husband. This carries the white Cross on blue of Greece and a dynastic Inescutcheon of Denmark. The version to be seen above is of Marina's Arms as a widow, carried on a lozenge-shaped shield. As a married woman she carried the marshalled arms on a Shield.
They were each assigned 5 pointed labels as grandchildren of a monarch and at least followed a certain logic.
- Edward was assigned three Anchors and two St George Crosses (as above)
- Alexandra was assigned two Anchors, a central St George's Cross and two red Hearts
- Michael was assigned two Anchors and three St George's Crosses using the same method as his cousins the two Gloucester brothers.
In 1961 Edward married Katharine Worsley, daughter of Yorkshire landowner Sir William Worsley, 4th Baronet, at York Minster rather than Westminster Abbey. As Sir William was a baronet (an hereditary knight) Katharine simply marshalled her simple paternal Arms (white with a red Chief) with those of her husband. Those of the present Duchess of Kent are portrayed on a Shield as her husband is still living.
Sir Angus Ogilvy (effectively knighted when he was appointed to the Royal Victorian Order in 1988) was the second son of the Earl of Airlie. His family had and continues to have close links to the Royal Family as lords and ladies in waiting. As the second son, Angus's Coat of Arms carries the cadency mark of a Crescent (moon) for difference but does not have supporters. Neither did he 'inherit' anything heraldically from his wife, even though she outranked him.
An enquiry of Her Royal Highness' office with regard to the Coats of Arms of her children, James and Marina, elicited the response that they did not have any Coat of Arms, which is technically not the case. They would both have inherited their father's Arms, if not also quarter their mother's Arms even though she isn't an heraldic heiress, but the author presumes that they simply haven't had their right to bear Arms proved.
Prince Michael was excluded on marriage in 1978 from the Line of Succession to the Throne by virtue of the fact that Marie Christine is Catholic, but was reinstated on 26 March 2015 when the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 came into force, and is at present 45th in line to the Throne. Also, Michael has never received a parliamentary annuity, even though he has and continues to carry out official engagements, although he did have a grace-and-favour apartment at Kensington Palace from The Queen. Additionally, he remains the only one his generation not to have been appointed to the Order of the Garter or any major order except the Royal Victorian Order.
Marie Christine is the only daughter of the Silesian nobleman Baron Gunther Hubertus von Reibnitz and of his Austro-Hungarian wife, Maria Anna Carolina Franziska Walpurga Bernadette, Countess Szapáry de Muraszombath, Széchysziget et Szapár. Her parental Coat of Arms is the very 'Austrian' colours of white and red stripes (Barry of five Argent and Gueles). As above they are shown marshalled with her husband's Arms and, as with her sister and cousin-in-law, uses her husband's supporters rather than her husband's the the left and her father's to the right. (Coincidentally, Princess Michael's Coat of Arms and that of the Duchess of Kent are in the same colours and very similar in design.)
Princess Michael of Kent has not been granted any UK order of chivalry.
Mary was assigned another unique Label, especially for a Princess Royal, of three St George's Crosses. Strangely enough, this was assigned to her as late as 1931 when Princess Louise had passed away and neither had a princess carried the 'usual' Label for a first-born princess of a Tudor Rose between two St George's Crosses since 1901. (Princess Louise never received an amended Label of three points any way, as discussed in a previous blog about anomalies.) Having said that, Mary's Label did, to some extent, match up to her brother George's as mentioned above.
We end on a rather sad note. As a kind of a PS, we have HRH The Prince John. The Lost Prince, as he has come to be called, suffered from epilepsy and did not live to adulthood. He was therefore not assigned a Label.